A mercado is a traditional market in Latin regions — one that is brimming with assorted vendors representing the cultural essence of local communities. Seeking to recreate this authentic feeling for consumers in Southern California, Northgate Market worked with Shook Kelley to launch a new food shopping and dining destination: Mercado González.
This new store concept has created a “pipeline” between shoppers and authentic Mexican flavors, sounds and customs, transforming the typically highly templated grocery store model into an immersive cultural experience where people can gather freely. However, this pipeline started and remains connected to the foundation of the Northgate Market business — founder Don Miguel González Jiménez, a shoemaker who became a grocery store owner after he moved from Mexico to the United States. The González family continues to manage the Northgate Market after 100-plus years, including Joshua González, who oversees strategy for the company.
“Our aspiration is to be a 100-year, multi-generational evergreen company, which means the business reinvents or regenerates over time,” González said in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “These big bets, like the mercado, really change the trajectory of the family and our community. The work we did was fundamental to thinking differently about the business, where we wanted to go and what our go-to-market strategy was.”
Benefits of Going ‘Narrow and Deep’ on Mexican Culture
Northgate Market has been willing to buck conventional retail wisdom to make its mercado model a success. For example, there is a common assumption that grocery stores need to have a broad appeal and carry a highly diverse assortment to capture market share.
However, “going narrow and deep on Mexican culture” has allowed the brand to appeal to a wider base of consumers who have a passion for Mexican culture, “whether that be food, music or art,” González said. “And we believe there is no greater authority to bring that to the U.S. than us. It’s our culture. We have a passion for it, and we are invested in it.”
Since opening the mercado’s doors in fall 2023, it has become the top-performing store in a chain of approximately 44 locations, and has unlocked new possibilities for what Northgate Market can do in the future. “This new concept has informed a lot of how we think about our brand and how other formats will interact with our customers and guests,” González explained. “You’re going to see a lot of what you see in the mercado in our broader organization, our social media channels and the events we’re hosting. It’s not just a concept or one store; it’s what our organization plans to do moving forward.”
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Reinventing the Grocery Store Model
To create a truly engaging and authentic mercado experience, Mercado González bypassed the traditional grocery store model, where the store’s center occupies most of the space, and is then surrounded by fresh departments, such as the deli and butcher counters, along the perimeter. Instead, every unique product category is treated as its own stall (also known as a “puesto”), with a dedicated merchant and exclusive recipes cooked in-store.
“We thought, ‘What if we really developed these puestos and had a food celebration where there’s a lot of variety?’” said Kevin Kelley, Co-founder of Shook Kelley, in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “Every five feet you have a different personality, a different character, a different story, value system and belief. We liked that eclectic sense.”
Each puesto has its own cultural or culinary focus and is designed to have its own name, creative finish, materials, graphics and signage. Cooking puestos are equipped with open kitchens — and seating so people can enjoy the “cooking theater” — as well as their own checkout areas and quick counter seating. And rather than using the typical gridded straight lines of a grocery store, the Mercado uses multiple “streets” or “alleys” as navigational tools to help consumers venture throughout the space in an authentic, even adventurous, way.
The puestos are surrounded by open communal seating areas, 11 murals painted by local artists, an indoor bar, two outdoor patios and a standalone fine-dining restaurant with a menu created by Mexico-based restaurateurs using the mercado’s ingredients.
Photo credit: Shook Kelley Architects
Designing a Space for Authentic Cultural Connection
The creative partnership between Northgate Market and Shook Kelley began toward the tail end of the pandemic, when retailers prioritized the utility and safety of store design, according to Kelley. “But together, we believed that physical stores have a place…and when we went to stores together, I enjoyed all the tiny side conversations and stories they shared about everything in the stores, particularly the merchants and Mexico, which were so enchanting for us.”
The stories shared by the González family brought the aspects of Mexican culture to life, illustrating to the Shook Kelley team that even in Southern California, “most people don’t know all the incredible beauty of Mexican food. The more we listened to them talk about their rituals and traditions, and the importance of family mealtime, the more we thought, ‘Why don’t we triple down on their Mexican heritage instead of professionalizing the stores?’”
In addition to the discovery-based experience inspired by the puestos, the mercado features live entertainment and also hosts birthdays and other celebrations, to bring the cultural experience full circle.
“There’s a democratic experience to the mercado, where all walks of life can interact in one place,” González noted. “There are not many places in America where that happens today — people who wouldn’t regularly sit at adjacent tables or have a conversation do so at the mercado. [People say] say they’ve never seen or lived something like this; it’s something they’ve never experienced before. The emotional connection we’re creating with customers is special.”
A Model for Experience Innovation
The public’s reaction to the mercado has been “overwhelming,” according to Kelley. “I knew the tuning fork was hitting the right resonance, and that it was really going to redefine grocery stores and their potential.”
In fact, Kelley lumped Northgate Market with a very small pool of clients that have changed industry rules and raised the experience bar. “We try to figure out what makes these jobs a success,” he explained. “It requires a client [with deep convictions], has enough brand champions that can navigate their own organization and push the organization forward, but also work with their consultants to do better work. And of course, it also requires the right site, timing and understanding of consumers.”
But how does being a brand champion translate into this level of innovation and differentiation? Being a brand champion requires “thinking about the fundamentals of the organization that need to change in order to give way to all these other ideas,” said González. “What dam needs to break for these ideas to flow through?”
However, it’s not just about running with a big idea with reckless abandon. An effective champion also considers (and plans for) all the tactical requirements that make an idea a tangible success.
“Thinking about creating a space for authentic Mexican food experiences was inspiring and motivating for us, but to create a beast like this takes a lot of resources, energy and time,” González explained. “Then, you have to operationalize it and execute on the promise — you have to deliver great food and amazing hospitality. There are phases to it, and then evolution continues, but having that North Star behind what we wanted to accomplish gave us a lot of clarity.”
