Inventory reduced, but Rancho Liborio says doors will stay open

Several shelves at the Rancho Liborio grocery in Colorado Springs are bare, a freezer case is empty and portions of the store appear to have been closed off to shoppers.

But the California-based chain that operates the speciality grocery on South Circle Drive says the store isn’t closing or relocating, despite questions by shoppers who have wondered for weeks if something is about to change.

“Our intentions are not to close that store,” Daniel Medina, vice president of sales for Rancho Liborio’s owners,  said Tuesday when asked by The Gazette about the store’s status.

Rancho Liborio opened in May 2008 in a 110,000-square-foot store at 1660 S. Circle that previously housed a Cub Foods and Grocery Warehouse. The store caters to Hispanics and Latinos and is part of a chain that also operates stores in Aurora, Commerce City, Thornton and Westminster.

On Tuesday, a current weekly grocery ad for all five Rancho Liborio locations hung in the window of the South Circle store. Shoppers were coming and going, and the store’s bakery, deli and meat counter all were operating.

Medina acknowledged that inventory has been reduced, but declined to say why.

“We do feel there’s a market for our products and our customers,” Medina said. “No one really serves them the way we are able to. I can’t get into specifics on anything else, but I can assure you that our intentions are to move forward and make that business continue to move on...It’s not for public information why that inventory may be lower than we hope for.”
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