Florida's first Puerto Rican supermarket chain opened a store in Kissimmee this past weekend.
El Nuevo Día reports Willer Vélez, who owns the Willer's Cash & Carry chain on the island, debuted
Willer's SuperMarket at 1344 E. Vine St. on Dec. 3.
The Puerto Rican newspaper reports Vélez, 29, is supplying products from the island that many
boricuas love such as Café Lareño, guava paste, Cameo cookies, Export Sodas crackers, brown sugar and butter cookies. Vélez told
El Nuevo Día that while other stores may have a limited amount of Puerto Rican products they keep in the back, he would like his store to keep those products regularly in stock and at the forefront. Willer's SuperMarket will also have typical Puerto Rican desserts and roasted pork for sale every day. There will also be live music on some weekends,
El Nuevo Día reports.
The initial investment into the Kissimmee supermarket is $1.3 million, which has directly created 38 jobs. Vélez told
El Nuevo Día that he plans to invest a total of $6 million over the next year as he expands his chain into Orlando, Tampa and Poinciana.
Business appears to be going pretty well so far – during its grand opening on Sunday, Willer's SuperMarket reported long lines of customers eager to get their hands on products from home.