In the neighborhood: Rancho Viejo gets convenience store

RANCHO VIEJO - Residents of Rancho Viejo will again have the convenience of a convenience store. The Rancho Viejo Mini-Mart on Carmen Avenue opened Saturday and will provide the community with most everything it needs —  and a good location.

After the Stripes store closed more than two years ago, residents living had to drive to other Stripes locations in Olmito or off FM 511 in order to fill their tanks with gas or buy food.

“I’m providing people a safer place to go to instead of them having to go onto the expressway,” store owner Ernest Rangel said.

Community members are now thrilled to have a store near their homes and places of work.

Rancho Viejo Mayor Roberto Medrano visited the store on the first day of operation and was impressed with its reasonable prices and the “small and cozy” atmosphere.

Medrano said the store is a great benefit to the people living in the town.

“It’s very nice not having to go a mile down the road just for a soda pop,” Medrano said. “That’s something I haven’t experienced in about a year and a half.”

Medrano has been spreading the word about the new store and has no doubt that residents will be appreciative of everything the store has to offer.

“It’s nice to be within the comfort and security of your town and have access to things,” Medrano added.

Before Rangel opened his store he left flyers on doorsteps and car windshields trying to promote his new business.

“People even wanted me to open it earlier,”  Rangel said.

The flyer reads: “No more unwanted dangerous long drives!”

Armando Gutierrez, an employee of the Valley Municipal Utility District, stopped by the store for the first time, along with a co-worker, for some refreshments.

“We decided to try it and see what it’s like,” Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez works within walking distance of the convenience store and is happy he will no longer have to go out of his way for a cold drink.

“Now all they need are breakfast tacos,” Gutierrez added with a smile.

Sebastian Rangel, the owner’s nephew, was working at the newly opened store Tuesday afternoon as children came riding in on their bikes to buy ice cream and other customers arrived in golf carts.

“You can tell a lot of people are happy about having this store,” Sebastian Rangel said. “Almost everyone that comes in here keeps saying that now they don’t have to drive out so far to get things.”

Sebastian Rangel said he is helping his uncle keep track of what customers are looking for and what they are buying.

The owner still plans on expanding the variety of his merchandise.

“If we don’t have what customers ask for, we try and get it for them,” Ernest Rangel said. “We want them (customers) to remember we are here for them.”

The store is open 7 a.m.-11 p.m. seven days a week.