Family-owned supermarket opens in Pittsburg at shopping center site vacant since 2019
Pittsburg residents are excited about a new family-owned grocery store opening in town.
"I got some roses for myself. And some instant oatmeal. Been dying to have something sweet to have with my coffee, it's not a lot of calories, so I got these," Julie Aquilina, a resident, told CBS News Bay Area.
She's been living in Pittsburg for nearly 30 years and is looking forward to having a local grocery store only five minutes from home.
"I love Pittsburg. It's a great town, very diverse community," she said.
Ever since the former Raley's, and later Food Source, grocery store located at Highlands Square Shopping Center closed in 2019, neighbors said it's been a bit of a food desert. Now, that former vacant plot of land has transformed into Cielo Supermarket, a Hispanic grocery store.
Last October, the Pittsburg City Council approved a $120,000 incentive program to help open Cielo, which translates into "heaven," including providing an almost $78,000 building permit fee credit.
"This Cocina de Lupita, this is our taqueria. Full kitchen above all the classic burritos, tacos, but we also have specialty items like carnitas, chicharrónes," said owner Hector Gomez as he gave this reporter the tour. "What makes us different is we want to make this a destination. The way we designed our store in every department that we have here in our beautiful store it's more of a destination."
"We have about 100 team members at the moment. And we're very proud of that. And we have a very good team, and we're happy," he added. "We've been getting a lot of positive feedback. People needed a supermarket here, and we're excited to be here."
And Aquilina is thankful.
"I'm always open to trying new things," she said.
This is Cielo Supermarket's second location. The Gomez family opened their first location in Antioch about five years ago.
Gomez said their vision is to continue expanding their family business by opening more local grocery stores across the Bay Area.
