Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month – Community Stories Spotlight, The Rivera Family

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, Hibbett | City Gear is celebrating the rich diversity and influence as well as the positive contributions of the Hispanic community and culture through sharing the stories of local community members. In September, we spoke with Unos Tacos’ owner/operator Jesus “Chuy” Mendez about his experience as a child immigrant from Mexico in the early 2000s.

Today we venture to Pelham, Alabama to hear from Dulce Rivera, the executive director of Mi Pueblo Supermarket — a community-friendly grocery store chain founded by her father Joel Rivera nearly two decades ago.

“Mi Pueblo actually means ‘my town’ in English,” Dulce explained as she described how the idea for the store came to be. Most of the supermarket’s customers, like Joel, are immigrants from different countries, cultures, and ethnic backgrounds. “Sometimes you just want that little piece of home, and for us that’s food…Food can bring you a little bit closer to home, and that’s what we are trying to bring to the community: a little sense of back home to their new home,” she continued.

On the left side of Mi Pueblo’s Pelham location is a produce display that spans nearly the store’s entire length. Among the dozens of items in stock are zucchini, eggplant, ginger, aloe vera, various peppers and the thing that sparked Mi Pueblo Supermarket’s story: cactus.

Joel Rivera migrated from Mexico to the United States 35 years ago as an undocumented immigrant who was granted amnesty under President Reagan. After marrying his wife, Isabel, the Rivera family lived in both Dallas and Houston, Texas, before eventually settling in the Birmingham area. Joel soon opened a restaurant that featured Tex-Mex-inspired cuisine on its menu.

Every other Friday, Joel would host a gathering for his employees at which he would cook and serve his staff an authentic dish not offered on the menu. One of his favorite dishes was made with cactus.

At that time, there was only one place in the area that Joel was able to purchase the ingredient from, and because of the lack of other suppliers, the cost of cactus was high.

“He was very upset with that,” Dulce recalled. “He was very determined to bring something that was close to him, close to his culture — but that was affordable — to his community.”

As time passed, Joel continued to buy cactus and other traditional Hispanic foods from the supplier, but he couldn’t shake the desire to open his own place where other members of the Hispanic community could access better quality products at a much lower cost.

In the beginning, Joel knew nothing about how to run or stock a grocery store. All he knew was that there was a need in the community, and he wanted to fill it.

When the Mi Pueblo Supermarket first opened its doors, the products sold there were mostly Mexican in origin, but Joel soon began receiving requests from customers for products that were staples in Central and South America, too. Today, 21 flags line Mi Pueblo’s storefront, representing the many countries and communities the supermarket serves, including numerous African communities, Asian and Indian patrons, and customers of Caribbean descent.

“When you see your flag of your home country, you feel at home, and you feel invited,” Dulce said. “That’s very important to us and… to have people know that we’re more than just a one race or ethnicity store.”

As for her own heritage and culture, Dulce told us that her parents made it a point to encourage their children to remember their Mexican roots and instilled in them the importance of fitting into their new community without losing the essence of who they were or where they came from.

Born in Texas and raised in Alabama, Dulce admits she’s “very southern” but says Southern and Hispanic cultures are surprisingly similar, noting that a love of food and celebration are just two things the different cultures have in common.

“I’m Mexican-American,” Dulce explained, “and our Mexican culture can be very strong; it can be intimidating to some people… But we’re very warm, we’re very inviting, and we love to share who we are and what we bring to the table.”

On really busy days, Dulce said Mi Pueblo Supermarket fills with customers from all over the world. Shoppers of different races, genders, and ethnicities can be seen alongside one another as they buy bread and sweets from the store’s bakery and lunch from the buffet-style restaurant located at the store’s rear.

“At the end of the day, it’s just so beautiful to see all of it mixed together in those special moments. It’s just so amazing to me that all of these people are people that live here in Birmingham, Alabama, and it fills my heart to know that we fulfill them, and we give them a little bit of sense of their home, here.”