The site of a once-popular Mexican restaurant in Emporia is now filled — by another Mexican restaurant.
Now open? The Las Catrinas restaurant at 1116 West Sixth, the former home of Sam’s Southern Eatery and La Hacienda. Sam’s opened in July 2020 but closed this past spring, victimized several times by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. La Hacienda was a popular restaurant but was seized by the Kansas Department of Revenue for failure to pay back taxes.
Two groceries marketing to the local Hispanic community say they are close to opening on their social media channels, although neither have posted firm timetables.
The Mi Pueblito meat market is filling the space most recently used as storage after the closure of Country Mart South in the summer of 2014. Country Mart South had occupied that space on South Commercial for about a decade, but the closure was blamed on a decline in sales at the time as well as increased government regulations — and came after planning had started for the Emporia Pavilions retail development near 24th and Industrial. The initial Pavilions plan included a supermarket, but a secondary update said the local grocery market was saturated.
Meanwhile, the El Rio Bravo grocery store is set to take over the empty space at 1324 Industrial that was vacated when Aldi went to the southwest corner of 24th and Industrial five years ago. This will be the fourth El Rio Bravo in Kansas.
