Kennewick’s 3 Pueblos market reopens, ready to serve growing Latino community

A Kennewick carniceria is back in business and its owners are eying an expansion after the business lost its old lease.

Carniceria 3 Pueblos reopened last week, three months after brothers Jose and Freddy Cervantes were forced to shutter their original location on West Fourth Avenue when they couldn’t renew their lease at the former Midtown Plaza.

The new 4,000-square-foot store at 2446 W. Kennewick Ave. is anchored by a 50-foot case stocked with of all manner of chicken, beef and pork, as well as a blend of traditional Hispanic and American grocery items.

Carcineria 3 Pueblos offers fresh produce and will open a deli offering Mexican fare in about two weeks. Cervantes said Latinos account for about half his customers.

Latinos are the fastest-growing demographic in Kennewick, accounting for 29 percent of Kennewick’s 80,500 residents. That’s up nearly six percentage points in five years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau 2016 American Community Survey results released last fall.

The Cervantes family also operates Pasco’s Atomic Foods grocery and hopes to complete its sweep of the Tri-Cities this summer by opening a second edition of 3 Pueblos (“Tri-Cities”) in Richland.

The family moved to the Tri-Cities from the Bay Area and opened the original 3 Pueblos about seven years ago.

Losing their lease was a setback that closed the business for three months while they converted a former church space into a grocery, including upgrading electrical and other systems.

Jose Cervantes said he’s grateful to be back in business and thinking about the future. The business negotiated a 10-year lease for its new location, with an option to buy the property.

Cervantes said he plans to exercise the option to avoid another move.

The carcineria’s business hours are 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

What is an egg?

The Tri-Cities’ newest corporate citizen is throwing shade at its competitors as it launches a new line of breakfast sandwiches. Last week, St. Louis-based Panera Bread petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to define just what constitutes an “egg.”

Panera’s new breakfast sandwiches feature “100% real eggs” — a point it wants to drive home.

Panera said its testing showed that half of the Top 10 fast casual restaurants add butter-type flavors, gums and coloring to their “eggs.”

Panera opened its first local location to considerable fanfare in November at 2768 Duportail St. in Richland’s Queensgate neighborhood.

For your calendar

Columbia Gardens Urban Wine & Artisan Village gets a proper christening at 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 9 at 421 E. Columbia Drive in Kennewick. Columbia Gardens is an economic development initiative of the Port of Kennewick to reinvent Kennewick’s gritty stretch of Columbia River waterfront as a visitor friendly destination.

Port officials and the two winery tenants, Bartholomew Winery and Palencia Wine Co. & Monarcha Wines will celebrate the grand opening with a ribbon cutting. The wineries will both open their tasting rooms following the ceremony.

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This story was originally published January 23, 2018 at 3:46 PM with the headline "Kennewick’s 3 Pueblos market reopens, ready to serve growing Latino community."