A new specialty grocer brings unique Mexican items to Ingleside.
El Mercadito took over the recently closed storefront at 1712 Ocean Ave. on Sept. 11. Co-owner Jose Mendoza and his partner, who requested to remain unnamed, used their tools of working in the industry to open the grocery store to offer the neighborhood with a small mini market that has everything they need.
“It means a small mini market in Spanish,” Mendoza said. “We try to put a little bit of everything.”
“I feel like it goes back to the thing that I wanted to do, which was to have more food available on Ocean and I’m glad that we can keep that here,” Westwood Produce’s Eduard Punchin said.
Similar to Westwood Produce, El Mercadito is lined with shelves across the small space with two refrigerators towards the back and offers one indoor and one outdoor shelving unit of fresh produce. Stocked on the shelves are common pantry items such as sauces and condiments like tomato, hot sauce and ranch, instant ramen, canned vegetables and beans, pasta and rice and a variety of soft drinks like Fanta, Del Frutal canned juices and more. In a small corner of the shop is a rack of Hispanic spices and seasonings.
They also sell household items from paper towels and paper plates to disinfectants like Ajax and Fabuloso, making them a one-stop shop for many shoppers' needs. In addition, they kept the mural that hangs on the back wall of the storefront, swapping the previous name for their own.
What sets them apart from other grocers in the neighborhood are its offerings of Central American products such as chips like Crujitos and flavors of classic chips like queso Ruffles and torciditos Cheetos and produce like different types of chiles.
“My store is not like other grocers,” Mendeoz said. “We have a lot of chips from Central America and a variety of different tortillas.”
They also take every form of payment like cash and debit and credit cards and will soon accept EBT.
“We have a little bit of everything so we want to make sure people know that we’re here for them,” Mendoza said.
Anne Marie Kristoff (she/her) is a recent graduate from San Francisco State University's journalism program. She enjoys writing about the arts, entertainment and nature.
