Monterrey Market Owner Reveals Plans for New Location
Grocery store plans a third location this year on Milwaukee's far West Side.
Monterrey Market, 3920 S. 27th St. Photo taken Jan. 6, 2024 by Sophie Bolich.
The opening of a third Monterrey Market will not only be a strategic move for the growing Milwaukee grocer, but also a highly anticipated addition to the city’s West Side, according to owner Robert Montemayor.
Montemayor has confirmed plans to open a new market at 7025 W. Main St., bringing new life to a shuttered Walmart Neighborhood Market near the Milwaukee-West Allis border.
“It’s very unfortunate when grocery stores close down in areas that don’t have too many options,” he said, noting that only one other supermarket operates within one mile of the proposed grocer. “Based off of the analytics that we had done, it’s still a very much-needed grocery store location to really cater to the community that’s around that area itself.”
The new location, Montemayor added, is expected to attract both Monterrey Market’s loyal customer base and new shoppers from nearby areas.
“I believe that we can definitely capture a lot of the business that Walmart had before, but then also create more of a customer base based off of how we do our marketing and advertising and so forth,” he said.
And while the upcoming store is farther from existing Monterrey Markets at 3014 S. 13th St. and 3920 S. 27th St., the location is not “out of the box,” Montemayor said, noting that the City of West Allis had previously courted him to open a store within its borders.
“The buildings we were looking at didn’t really make a lot of sense for us, but when I heard that the Walmart was going to be closing down, I did everything I could to be in the running for that location,” he said.
With strong support from area Alderwoman Sharlen P. Moore, Montemayor is working with a team of contractors to build out the former department store, building out a kitchen, two delis and restaurant space in anticipation of a late-spring opening.
“We believe a lot in fresh and scratch-made foods,” he said, noting that the market plans to feature handmade tortillas and fresh tamales, along with a butcher-led meat department offering both custom cuts and prepackaged items. The store will also include cold and hot deli departments, with the latter serving everything from rice and beans to meatloaf. Additional hot foods will be available from an in-house taqueria and restaurant.
The format will mirror that of the 27th Street store and will include a taqueria it runs called Monaco’s Restaurant. Additional space will be subleased to businesses such as an ice cream shop, an insurance agency and others.
“Alderwoman Moore has been very supportive, and we just definitely want to make sure that everything is moving along in an orderly fashion,” Montemayor said. “We’re just excited to be part of that community.”
The new Monterrey Market has a target opening date between May 1 and June 1, depending on construction timelines.
Existing members must be signed in to see the interactive map. Sign in.
If you think stories like this are important, become a member of Urban Milwaukee and help support real, independent journalism. Plus you get some cool added benefits.
