Super Mas grocery store opening

"South Side areas underserved by the major grocery chains are getting an ambitious contender for their food dollar.

Super Mas Market, a Hispanic grocery with an upscale slant, has opened in the New City neighborhood at 1424 W. 47th St. It's the first location for what company President Juan Carlos Perez hopes will become a Chicago-centered chain.

At 32,000 square feet, the store has its own restaurant with catering services, a taqueria and tortilla machine and a scratch bakery."

http://www.suntimes.com/business/206948 ... 25.article

Moderator: I searched because I thought someone must have posted about this already but I couldn't find it. Feel free to delete if I missed it.

Super Mas Market
1424 W. 47th St.
Chicago, IL

Thanks for mentioning the article. I wasn't aware Super Mas was open. Yesterday I stopped by briefly and was pretty impressed. There's a lot going on in this not-so-large store and the employees couldn't have been more friendly or helpful. I wasn't heading straight home so didn't buy anything but the meat department in particular looked excellent. I'll be curious to try their prepared foods—they have a taqueria with an al pastor spit, a deli with three large copper cazos for carnitas, and a bakery with an impressive tortilla machine (to the right of the cazos).



I thought the Sun-Times article was rather misleading. The subtitle calls Super Mas "an oasis in a south side food desert." Nothing could be farther from the truth. Although it is almost true the area is "underserved by the major grocery chains," all neighborhoods should be so lucky. That stretch of 47th Street is a great place for budget shoppers. Six blocks east is Fairplay (Halsted & 47th), a surprisingly good no-frills market. Almost next door to Super Mas is an Aldi (1508 W 47th). A few blocks west is Supermercado El Guero (1701 W 47th). Much farther west is an outpost of Pete's Fresh Market (47th & Kedzie), maybe Chicago's best supermarket chain. On Ashland, around the corner from Super Mas are a couple more supermercados: La Internacional (4556 S Ashland) and Jerry's Certified (4524 S Ashland). And in the summer there are parked pickup trucks selling fresh fruit and vegetables.

To be fair, the author does note the neighborhood is "on the fringe of a broad swath of the South Side that city officials have identified as one of three 'food deserts.'" It's certainly true that there are very few good markets east of Halsted or south of 47th. (Now that I reread that quote, I take exception to the claim that the food deserts were identified by city officials. As I understand it, the pioneering studies were privately funded and performed.)