mensajero - Mi Pueblo

April 2015
7th Edition
EL NUEVO
MENSAJERO
FROM CORPORATE
From the
Desk of Javier
Dear Colaboradores,
April has been an exciting month of celebration
excitement. I’d like to thank you for your hard work
leading up to the Easter weekend. Our customer
service and dedication makes Mi Pueblo the treasured
community ally we are today. We’d like to ask that
you continue making exceptional service a priority
and invite customers to visit us time and time again.
This month’s Nuevo Mensajero newsletter includes
information on Mi Pueblo’s Dia del Niño events, five
steps to relax in honor of Stress Awareness Month,
and ways that Mi Pueblo participates in green
initiatives that support Earth Day. I’d like to take the
opportunity to congratulate our Visionary Award
winner Cecilia Arreguín from Human Resources for
her “Happy Hour” idea to bring in more customers
by offering special coupon and discounts during
specific hours. I encourage you to send your ideas
for an opportunity to win a $500 gift card! The
next winner will be selected on June 30. Feel free to
contact Nancy Ortiz if you need more information
about the program.
We’ve also included details and pictures of a special
visit from Roberto Tapia and Banda El Recodo that
a crowd-pleaser at stores they visited. Please feel free
to share your comments and suggestions for content
and photos you’d like to see featured in next month’s
issue to [email protected].
Sincerely,
Javier Ramirez
President and CEO of Mi Pueblo
they visited
Special Visit From
Banda Recodo & Roberto Tapia:
Our friends from superstar music group Banda El Recodo and regional
Mexican singer-songwriter Roberto Tapia stopped by several of our store
locations on Tuesday April 13th and Wednesday April 14th. Customers
waited anxiously for a chance at getting their pictures taken during the hour
long autugraph-signing events that took place in San Jose, East Palo Alto, and
Oakland. Despite their superstardom, Banda El Recodo engaged with fans
and even showed their funny side as did Roberto Tapia. We thank all our
customers and fans who were able to make it to the events. The Marketing
team looks forward to bringing more store events this summer.
Keep your eyes open!
Stress Relief
Work, financial problems, family and many other
daily responsibilities can cause stress. In recognition
of Stress Awareness Month, we wanted to provide
you with some tips to help you relax. Whether you
re-invigorate yourself through reading, jogging or
laughing with a friend, for your health’s sake, make
sure you tackle your stress head-on. Here are five
relaxation techniques to relieve stress:
1. Breathe Deeply – Take a
5-minute break and focus on
your breathing. Experts have
stated that deep breathing
counters the effect of stress
by slowing the heart rate and
lowering blood pressure. Close
your eyes and breathe!
makes you smile.
2. Laugh It Out – A good
laugh helps lower your
body’s stress hormones
and improves your mood.
Lighten up by tuning in
to your favorite sitcom or
video, reading the comics, or
chatting with someone who
3. Crank Up the Tunes –
Research shows that listening
to soothing music can lower
blood pressure, heart rate,
and anxiety. Create a playlist
of songs or nature sounds and
allow your mind to focus on
the different melodies, instruments, or sounds.
4. Get Moving – You don’t
have to run in order to get a
runner’s high. All forms of
exercise, including yoga and
walking, can ease depression
and anxiety. Team up with a
colaborador and get moving!
5. Let It Go – Most of the time, you face situations
you can’t change. This is the time.
Meet Your New Corporate Staff
We are always looking to add more talent to our corporate office who
will help us accomplish our goals. We are excited to have these industry
veterans join the Mi Pueblo family and look forward to seeing their
contributions. Let’s give them a warm welcome!
• Miriam Navarro, Field Marketing Planner
– Miriam joined Mi Pueblo’s Oakland store
in 2009 as a cashier and worked her way
up to become a Field Marketing Planner.
Through hard work and dedication, Miriam
is a true example of how to be successful
within the company and is ready to take
Mi Pueblo by storm.
• Sal Esquer, Senior Director of Operations and
Logistic – With over 30 years of experience
in the retail industry, Sal has been offered the
opportunity to engage in many aspects of
the business, with emphasis on operations
and logistics. Through team effort, training,
development and experience, he and the rest
of the team plan to make Mi Pueblo the largest
Hispanic grocery chain in Northern California.
When Sal is not cooking a Mexican dish, he enjoys bowling.
AB 60 Campaign
Partnership
Mi Pueblo has partnered with DriversEd.com, the leading provider of
driver education, to promote the AB
60 campaign. On January 1 the State of
California passed the AB 60 law, which
allows undocumented immigrants residing in California to obtain a
state’s driver’s license without the need to provide immigration documents. In order to obtain the license, applicants need to pass the
DMV’s driving and written test. According to recent statistics, 64%
of applicants fail the DMV written test in Spanish.
Through the AB 60 campaign partnership, Mi Pueblo hopes to provide community members the necessary tools and resources to pass
the written test through a series of sample tests, a driving course and
promotional materials.
The links to resources, samples tests and more information on the
campaign are available in English and Spanish on Mi Pueblo’s website. You can also find flyers and additional materials in our stores.
For more information please visit:
https://driversed.com/california/ab60-en/
Employee Comebacks
Cesar Lopez is as a Front End Assistant at store# 22 on
White Road in San Jose who started his career as store
janitor in 2011 when he was hired in 2011. Born and raised
in Michoacán, Mexico, Cesar already had the inspiration
for a career in retail from his family business. He arrived
to the US when he was in high school, did not know
how to speak English but overcame his language barrier
participating in school clubs Upon starting at Mi Pueblo
he knew he was at the bottom of the latter but knew he
had to find his way to climb up. He says: ‘’no es lo que uno
aparace, es lo que uno sabe’’ that helps you move in any
place of work. Being janitor he used that motto to motivate
himself and quickly was promoted to bagger, cashier and
customer services and has worked throughout several SJ
area stores. His advice to anyone wanting to succeed at
MP: ‘’que seas enseñable, abierto, y que no se cierren a
aprender solamente una cosa o de un solo departamento’’.
Winner for 1st Quarter 2015
Congratulations are in order to Cecilia Arreguín from the
HR department for being selected as the 2015 first quarter
Visionary Award winner! We received over 117 entries
from employees representing all departments as well as
corporate staff throughout the entire company. Cecilia’s
idea suggested the stores host a "happy hour" when prices for certain products are low for about 1-2 hours. An
example would be offering a percent-off coupon valid on
Wednesday from 3-5pm only. This is common at shopping
malls and can help attract more customers.
Cecilia receive her $500 gift card last week.
If you didn’t send suggestions last quarter don’t forget
to submit ideas to be considered for future Visionary
awards. Please fill out the form found in your break
rooms and submit your suggestions in the corresponding ballot box. You may also email your ideas to Nancy.
[email protected] by June 30th. Don’t miss out
on the opportunity to win a $500 gift card and help us
improve Mi Pueblo.
Celebrating Mother Earth
Each year, Earth Day is celebrated internationally on April 22, to demonstrate support for environmental
protection, share sustainability best
practices, and to promote nature.
Mi Pueblo has been doing its part to help the planet by
changing its LED lighting from 70 watts to 19 watts in the
produce, meat and seafood departments. This upgrade
took place across various stores last year and additional
benefits to this green initiative include cost savings in energy, longer lasting LED bulbs, and toxic-free materials
that are 100% recyclable and reduce carbon footprint.
Additionally, Mi Pueblo is in water conservation mode
and all products are naturally defrosted instead of using
water. We are constantly recycling plastic bottles and
cardboard in our stores and encouraging our customers
to use reusable bags to decrease the number of plastic
bags. We will continue to look for additional efficiencies
to help take care of Mother Earth.
Remember we can all make a difference to taking care
of the environment; every little thing counts. Let’s help
preserve our planet for future generations!
Supporting Youth Education
As a continuing effort to support the community, Mi
Pueblo has opened its doors to local schools by hosting
field trips. Recently, students from Kent Middle School
visited the San Rafael store to learn more about Mi Pueblo’s culture and products, talk to our colaboradores and
get a “behind the scenes” look at how a supermarket is
run. The students practiced their Spanish skills and vocabulary by doing a scavenger hunt where they had to find
specific items throughout the store.
The students loved learning about Mi Pueblo and interacting with our colaboradores. Many of them have
returned with their families and become clients of Mi
Pueblo. A special thank you to Martin Reyes for making
this field trip possible and all our colaboradores at the San
Rafael store for their support. Let’s continue cultivating
tomorrow’s customers by providing our local schools and
children an unforgettable experience.
Banda El Recodo and Roberto Tapia
Folklorico Dance Competition
Children’s Day at Mi Pueblo