Longs looks to Latino market to bolster profits - (this grocery chain has chain with more than 500 stores in California, Nevada and Hawaii)

Longs, a chain with more than 500 stores in California, Nevada and Hawaii, is working to customize its stores to the neighborhoods it serves. Some 200 stores have been refurbished since 2003, part of the nearly 70-year-old company’s bid to prosper in the increasingly competitive retail drug industry.

But the downtown Watsonville store is the first to be designed specifically for the Latino market, and it could become a model for 50 to 60 other Longs stores in neighborhoods with similar demographics.

“Here’s the real test,” said Phyllis Proffer, Longs corporate spokeswoman. “We did a lot of research, but real research comes from customers.”"*

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