Author: Nelson Pereira

Keys to Building Truly Scalable Retail Organizations Guillermo WashingtonCo-Founder and COO, Mi Súper MercadoVice President of Retail, The Hispanic Retail Chamber of Commerce “Growth in retail doesn’t depend only on opening more stores. It depends on building an organization capable of scaling without losing operational control or connection with the customer.”  Leadership Built from the Floor Up For more than thirty years, Guillermo Washington has built his career in the operational core of the supermarket business. His trajectory reflects a rare combination: deep knowledge of the sales floor and a strategic vision for scaling organizations. His career began…

Expanded Strategic Analysis for Retail Insider Club Members When Price Stops Being the Problem and Becomes the Excuse For years, the debate between organic and conventional products focused almost exclusively on price. In today’s supermarket retail environment, that explanation is becoming increasingly insufficient. While organic products continue to carry a higher average price than their conventional counterparts, both data and operational experience show that the real challenge is no longer just how much they cost, but how they are managed in-store. One of the main friction points for retailers is shrink in organic fruits and vegetables. Slower turnover, combined with…

HRCOC Supports Compliance with FDA’s FSMA Final Rule Washington DC — Food traceability has entered a new regulatory phase with the implementation of the Final Rule under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The rule establishes additional traceability recordkeeping requirements for foods included on the Food Traceability List (FTL). This regulation is designed to strengthen public health protections by requiring companies involved in the manufacturing, processing, packing, and distribution of certain foods to maintain detailed records that allow rapid identification and removal of potentially contaminated products from the U.S. market. Under the…

Leadership, Professionalization, and the Hispanic Retail Ecosystem Independent supermarkets in the United States are entering a decisive phase. Industry consolidation, inflationary pressure, evolving consumer behavior, and technological transformation are reshaping the future of grocery retail. “Voices of Retail” was created by Diario Retail as an editorial platform to examine the present and future of Hispanic retail in the U.S., highlighting leaders who are building a more professional, competitive, and sustainable ecosystem. In this edition, we feature the perspective of Julio Ibánez, President of the Hispanic Retail Chamber of Commerce, with more than three decades of experience in the industry and…

Washington, DC — February 17th., 2026 Diario Retail announces the launch of Retail Voices, a new weekly editorial segment aligned with the publication’s strategic positioning and the institutional vision of the Hispanic Retail Chamber of Commerce (HRCOC). Retail Voices brings to the forefront the professionals who operate, lead, and transform the supermarket industry. Rather than traditional interviews, the segment serves as a platform for strategic conversation, documenting how real decisions are made across retail organizations — from procurement and operations to leadership, supplier relationships, and consumer insight. Editorial Purpose Retail Voices was created with a clear objective: to build a…

PRESS RELEASE – HRCOC Washington, DC | Saturday, February 14 HRCOC Appoints Pablo Jair Elías as Executive Director of The Retail Academy to Advance the Professionalization of Hispanic Retail in the U.S. The Hispanic Retail Chamber of Commerce (HRCOC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Pablo Jair Elías as Executive Director of The Retail Academy, an initiative designed to elevate management standards, leadership capabilities, and competitiveness within the Hispanic supermarket ecosystem in the United States. This appointment reflects a clear strategic vision: Hispanic retail continues to grow in scale, influence, and sophistication, yet it requires a new phase of…

Expanded Strategic Analysis for Retail Insider Club Members The integration of artificial intelligence, robotics, and human talent is emerging as a unified system designed to enhance efficiency, quality, and competitiveness. Washington, DC – As technological transformation accelerates, 2026 is shaping up to be the year of consolidation for what is being called the “Hybrid Future”: a new operating model in which artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and human talent no longer function separately but instead operate as a single, integrated system. Far from replacing people, this approach redefines production and commercial processes by combining intelligent automation, predictive analytics, and human judgment…

Expanded Strategic Analysis for Retail Insider Club Members Key Lessons for Entering the United States Market Exporting remains one of the primary goals for thousands of companies across Latin America. However, it is also one of the main sources of frustration: products that never reach store shelves, investments that fail to deliver returns, and projects that fade before they are able to scale. At The Hispanic Retail Chamber of Commerce (HRCOC), we observe a recurring pattern: most export failures are not caused by product quality, but by regulatory compliance mistakes, lack of strategic focus, insufficient preparation, and limited understanding of the…

PRESS RELEASE – HRCOC Washington, DC — February 2 — The Hispanic Retail Chamber of Commerce (HRCOC) proudly announces the addition of Verónica Liévana as Strategic Partnerships & Sponsorships Lead, strengthening the organization’s leadership team as it continues to expand its role as a central platform for Hispanic retail, supermarkets, and growth-oriented businesses across the United States. Verónica Liévana is a highly accomplished marketing and growth executive with more than 18 years of experience leading brand strategy, multicultural marketing, and business expansion initiatives for some of the most influential supermarket chains in the United States and Mexico. Her career reflects a…

The Hispanic Consumer Journey: Six Decades of Retail Transformation Expanded Strategic Analysis for Retail Insider Club Members The Hispanic consumer in the United States is not merely a demographic segment—it is an economic ecosystem with cultural memory, habits passed down across generations, and a distinctive relationship with both physical and digital retail. Today, the Hispanic community represents approximately 19.5% of the total U.S. population, with more than 65 million people identifying as Hispanic or Latino, according to 2023 Census estimates. This makes Hispanics the largest ethnic minority in the country, with continued growth projected in the decades ahead. Currently, 13…