Detroit — After waiting in line with dozens of other customers Friday, Lisa Perez loaded up her shopping cart with steaks, chorizo and other meats she said aren’t the same at other stores.
But Perez, a southwest Detroit resident, said quality is only one reason she frequents E&L Supermercado on Vernor Highway, just blocks from her home.
“It’s like family here,” she said. “Everyone is so nice. You see the owners walking around talking to people. It’s how a store should be.”
A staple in the neighborhood since 1945, E&L reopened Friday morning, a month after a fire shuttered the store. On May 11, Detroit Police and Fire departments responded to a report of shopping carts on fire outside the 28,000-square-foot building. About 40-50 people were evacuated, with no reported injuries.
The suspected arsonist was arrested within hours of the fire. Philip Valente faces 5-20 years in federal prison if convicted of maliciously damaging/destroying a commercial property using fire/explosive, according to court records.
The fire started outside the store when the arsonist torched a tarp that covered a row of shopping carts. The fire caused heavy damage to the grocery carts and the outer walls, windows, and roof, according to affidavit written by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the agency investigating the case. Parts of the interior had smoke damage.
“It was hard being closed,” said Dave Fienman, whose family has owned the store since it opened. “The (alleged arsonist) has a history of mental issues. I hope he gets the help he needs.”
Fienman, who continued paying the staff of 100 during the store’s closure, said because of how the fire was set, “we’ll no longer put tarps over the shopping carts. We’re just thankful the fire didn’t spread, and that nobody was hurt.”
Multiple shoppers, including Guadalupe Sayes, wore smiles as they weaved through the crowded aisles Saturday.
“I’m really happy they’re open again,” she said as she browsed a selection of freshly baked loaves of bread. “You can’t get this kind of food anywhere else.”
About a half-hour after the doors opened Saturday, there was a line of 73 customers waiting at the deli.
In a city where residents have long clamored for more grocery stores, E&L has thrived, drawing shoppers from throughout the region. The store’s owners said they’ve tracked people from more than 300 communities across Michigan, Ohio and in Canada.
The store opened in 1945, and has been operated by three generations of the Fienman family. While the store has catered to the Mexican American community for decades, it started out as a E & L Meat Co. that served the then-large Polish and Hungarian community in the area.
“Where the neighborhood went, we went,” said Ben Fienman, 73, one of the owners. During the ’70s following the influx of Latinos into the neighborhood, the store began catering to that community. By the end of the ’70s, Ben Fienman had also opened a tortilla factory that he eventually sold; the store is now Hacienda de Guitierrez, a popular tortilla and tortilla chip company that operates in front of E&L at 6000 W. Vernor Hwy.
While E&L was closed, Perez said she shopped at other stores, including Sam’s Club.
“Nothing is as good as it is here,” she said. “The prices are a little higher here, but it’s worth it.”
ghunter@detroitnews.com
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@GeorgeHunter_DN
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Southwest Detroit’s E&L Supermercado reopens after May arson
Reporting by George Hunter and Louis Aguilar, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By George Hunter and Louis Aguilar, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
