Monday, April 28, 2008

Carlos Castro walked through his newly opened Todos Supermarket in Dumfries last week wearing slacks, a sport jacket and a crisply pressed tie.

As Castro listened to reports from workers installing new security cameras, ordering products and placing myriad finishing touches on the 15,000-square-foot grocery store, he switched seamlessly from Spanish to English, depending on whom he was addressing. Walking around the store, he greeted each new client with either a "hello" or an " hola."

"Can I help you with anything?" Castro asked shopper Tina Hopper, 50, a resident of Graham Park Shores.

"No I am just cruising around," she said. "I am so glad you opened this, it is so convenient. Congratulations."

This is exactly the kind of reception Castro was hoping for. Castro's Todos Supermarkets have long served the Hispanic communities of Alexandria and Woodbridge, but with his new store in Dumfries, Castro is trying to expand his base.

It is the biggest risk of his career. He borrowed $1.5 million and invested about $500,000 of his own savings.

When he signed the lease last April, there was a thriving Hispanic community along Route 1. Now the housing bust and Prince William County's crackdown on illegal immigrants have driven many Hispanics out, he said, threatening his business model.

"I don't know if I would have done this if I had known this was coming," Castro said. "We had to reinvent ourselves."

Castro also views his decision to go forward with the opening as a way of answering anti-immigrant sentiments, he said.

"We can show people what we, the Hispanic community, can do," Castro said.

-- Alejandro Lazo