Supermercado de Walmart Opens

Walmart is trying to dive deeper into the $90 billion-a-year Hispanic grocery market by opening a new supermarket in west Phoenix today.

The Supermercado de Walmart is one of two stores nationwide that will test the country's appetite for a possible string of Hispanic supermarkets. The giant retailer says its other store that opened in Houston April 29 is far exceeding expectations.

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Phoenix and Houston were chosen for their large, multigenerational Hispanic populations with considerable spending power. Arizona has about 2 million Hispanic consumers.

Walmart has gained considerable knowledge and experience marketing to consumers in Mexico and Latin America and hopes to leverage it to boost sales to U.S. Hispanics, who have an estimated buying power of about $1 trillion a year.

A study of Hispanic buying power by Oklahoma State University found that Hispanics spend a larger portion of their household incomes on food -- $128.50 per week compared with $91 for non-Hispanics.