Big News

CanuckBob wrote:Maybe Pancho will open his own somewhere up the libremiento with ample parking. If I had money to invest I would be talking with him.

Yeah, me too! His knowledge and connections are the best. Looks like several of the employees went with him.

I suspect someone will offer him that, I'd like to see it, but unless SL fails it would be a bad investment. I don't think there is enough market here for two SLs.  I don't think.

Connections..... .....in SAT, to say the least.
Chino, father.....Lety's restaurant
Mario, uncle....Mario's restaurant
Gilberto, uncle....Licores Paz
Leopoldo, uncle....Superlake
Another uncle (can't remember his name)....evening mamager, Superlake
And a few others I can't recall right now

If he was anymore connected, it would require surgery to separate him.
Mexican blood is a lot thicker in SAT than "gringo water".

hahaha Slainte.

I thought there were only 4 brothers, I didn't know the man in the evening - who is very nice - was an uncle too.

By connections, I meant in the business. He has lots of distributors and suppliers feeding that store and if they stop doing so we will see many empty shelves. It will be interesting to see how it goes. I suspect Pancho will be fine once he gets going again doing whatever he decides to do.

Which brother made all the money NOB and set them all up in business?

viejito wrote:Which brother made all the money NOB and set them all up in business?

No such brother at any generational level.
I will leave it at that without making any comment on your source of information.
I have known, have done business with, and been friends with the Paz family for nearly 40 years.

Trailrunner wrote:hahaha Slainte.

I thought there were only 4 brothers, I didn't know the man in the evening - who is very nice - was an uncle too.

By connections, I meant in the business. He has lots of distributors and suppliers feeding that store and if they stop doing so we will see many empty shelves. It will be interesting to see how it goes. I suspect Pancho will be fine once he gets going again doing whatever he decides to do.

Uncle on the father's side, the other uncles are on the Paz side.
Leopoldo, the owner, is there everyday, usually upstairs in the office, and he knows the grocery business inside and out, as he had the smaller super across from the plaza in SAT (he sold it to a prima/sobrina) for years, before he started Superlake on the Carretera.  I remember Pancho as a school kid who learned everything he knows about the grocery business from his tio. To think that store cannot operate without Pancho, as good as he is, is ludicrous.
I have been their neighbor with businesses on both sides of Superlake for nearly as long as the store has been there and helped them move from the plaza to the Carretera in the 1980's.

ferret wrote:Where was SuperLake located in January of 1996? I can't believe I walked to its current location from the Danza del Sol... or maybe I did. Just curious.

Same location since probably 1985 when Polo opened the second location on the Carretera, in addition to the/his main store near the plaza in SAT.  For the first couple of years it was just a walk by fruit and vegetable stand.  Pancho's father Chino ((before he started Lety's, (Lety is  Pancho's sister,) on the arroyo across from Coca Cola)), he sold jugos and ceviche there. There wasn't any inside space but over the years Polo acquired more space to the rear and it was enlarged to what it is today.
It has always been a family oriented business, even before Pancho.
As the old saying goes....."Superlake wasn't built in a day"......

ferret wrote:Where was SuperLake located in January of 1996? I can't believe I walked to its current location from the Danza del Sol... or maybe I did. Just curious.

Maybe you were younger then......

slainte39 wrote:
Another uncle (can't remember his name)....evening mamager, Superlake

"Chuy"? (Jesus?)

Rosa Venus wrote:

slainte39 wrote:
Another uncle (can't remember his name)....evening mamager, Superlake

"Chuy"? (Jesus?)

Creo, que si.......quizas.

Thanks, Slainte, for the history! I was going to ask you for it. What you say is what I've known coupled with 3 conversations I had today in that store and another. They put the store at about 30 years old, showed me the size of the original store, and I'm very happy to hear your prognosis. It's currently hitting a few topes, falta muchas cosas hoy! But the grocery ladies say much is on the way and the store should fill back up this week. 

One poor miserable guy stacking costales and boxes of produce, that were being grabbed by customers as fast as they were being placed on the shelf, all by his lonesome.

I still have a couple questions tho, how long has Tony been there? Who is the man in the big black glasses? I see him all over town and in the store and he's not particularly friendly.

Trailrunner wrote:Thanks, Slainte, for the history! I was going to ask you for it. What you say is what I've known coupled with 3 conversations I had today in that store and another. They put the store at about 30 years old, showed me the size of the original store, and I'm very happy to hear your prognosis. It's currently hitting a few topes, falta muchas cosas hoy! But the grocery ladies say much is on the way and the store should fill back up this week. 

One poor miserable guy stacking costales and boxes of produce, that were being grabbed by customers as fast as they were being placed on the shelf, all by his lonesome.

I still have a couple questions tho, how long has Tony been there?Who is the man in the big black glasses?I see him all over town and in the store and he's not particularly friendly.

1.....About the same, maybe a short time longer.

2.....You mean the guy wearing the trench coat?

Seriously.
Fifties, medium build, big black rim glasses. Not Leo? I don't know what he looks like.

Trailrunner wrote:Seriously.
Fifties, medium build, big black rim glasses. Not Leo? I don't know what he looks like.

No idea!

What does (did) S.L. so special/popular.

Maybe a lot of hard to find items?

I haven't shopped there in years, but it sure had stuff that I couldn't find in any other market. That was a big positive.

I just ate two Pepperidge Farm Milanos, and I want another. (Have to ration.) Did I need them? No. Did I want them when I saw them at SL? Hell, yes.

I am ready for my quarterly trip to Superlake and a box of Spoonsize Shredded Wheat. I get along fine with the cereals available at Soriana until.... I also ration the cereal, Rosa, making it last as long as I can. While there, I will stroll the aisles and discover several other things I did not know I was craving.

SL caters to the need of the foreign population and it has worked well for them. Yes They have many items you cannot find anywhere else.. As somone who lives elsewhere in Mexico more than half the year I can vouch that many items carried by super Lake are just not available in the STate I live in . So I do without them but it is nice once in a while to be able to get what you like.
I am lucky because I buy very little goods that are prepared but getting oil, vinegar, mustars and some French black olives is sure nice.. not to mention their cheeses... I am stuck with Mexican cheeses down there and as a result I do not buy any except for the goat cheese or the double cream-

When I was there yesterday I noticed that the freezers were much better organized.

Slainte - " To think that store cannot operate without Pancho, as good as he is, is ludicrous."   

I dunno, Slainte. Not looking good, I'm not as impressed with Leo's expertise as you are. On me alone, he has lost several hundred pesos in the last 2 or 3 weeks on things that are no longer stocked or available. Multiply that. .

Sorry, but I think Pancho was the one who put the Super in SuperLake.

Soon to be called superlack ?