Hispanic Retailer Shuns Lottery Tickets, Tobacco Sales

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LAS VEGAS – Juvenal Chavez, president of Mi Pueblo Food Centers, a chain of 21 grocery stores serving highly Hispanic consumer markets in Northern California, reiterated his company’s aversion to selling lottery tickets to shoppers, many of whom live in economically distressed communities. Speaking on a panel at the recent National Grocers Association (NGA) show in Las Vegas, Chavez said he thought the act of purchasing a lottery ticket was the “ultimate abandonment of faith – people who buy lottery tickets have given up on the idea they can earn their way to prosperity.”

Other retailers on the panel extolled the sale of lottery tickets – even to consumers in the most difficult economic circumstances – but Chavez said it was a matter of conscience to him and he refuses to sell lottery tickets, as well as cigarettes, in his stores. He said people with limited disposable income shouldn’t be purchasing these types of products.