PITTSBURG – With financial assistance provided by the city, Cielo Supermarket will come to Highland Square Shopping Center next summer in an effort to provide relief to nearby residents who have been left without a neighborhood grocery store since 2019.
The family-owned business is expected to occupy about half of the 58,000-square-foot commercial space that has been vacant for the past six years since the closure of Food Source.
Cielo will be the city’s seventh grocery store, alongside WinCo Foods, Cardenas Market, Island Pacific Supermarket, FoodsCo, Safeway, and Sprouts Farmers Market.
In its bid to assist the development of the project, the city has agreed to offer an incentive package totaling $120,000.
The Pittsburg City Council on Monday unanimously approved the effort, which included $77,500 in city permit fee waivers and a $42,500 quarterly sales tax rebate – remitted at 50% of the supermarket’s quarterly revenues.
City staff estimate that the sales tax rebate will be paid within two years of the business opening. Funding for the building permit fee credit would come through a transfer of funds from the Pittsburg Power Company.
Pittsburg Economic Development Manager Robert Hicks-Carrera said the incentive package is less than 2% of the overall project cost, which currently stands at $6.2 million.
“The benefit for the city includes supporting the addition of a grocery store amenity in a neighborhood that has lacked such an amenity for six years now,” said Hicks-Carrera.
Cielo is expected to create 70 full-time jobs, 20 part-time jobs, and 65 construction jobs.
Pittsburg Mayor Jelani Killings said the city has tried various ways to market the retail space at Highland Square Shopping Center since Food Source shut its doors.
“We were trying to market the space and then, of course, going through COVID and just hearing the community’s concern in terms of what this potentially would be,” said Killings. “So, we’re excited that it is remaining as a supermarket, although reduced in size.”
Cielo was founded by Hector and Fabiola Gomez, along with her parents, Luis and Lupita Ayala.
Prior to opening Cielo, the Gomez family worked at Las Montañas Supermarkets, a Concord-based chain owned by Hector Gomez’s family.
Cielo, a Mexican specialty store, opened its first location in Antioch in 2021 on A Street, filling the gap of a full-service grocery store in the city’s older north side.
Their second store in Pittsburg will become the anchor tenant at Highland Square Shopping Center, at the intersection of Buchanan and Loveridge Road.
It will include a full produce section, meat department, deli, bakery, juice bar, “tortilleria” for fresh tortillas, chips, and masa for tamales, as well as a taqueria with indoor seating.
Plans also include space for subtenants offering additional services, such as banking or pharmaceutical services.
Cielo has “not explicitly” identified possible subtenants yet, but is working with various partners to potentially fill the spaces, said Hicks-Carrera.
The grocery store is in the process of obtaining building permits. It plans to open in summer 2026, Hicks-Carrera noted.
In response to a question by Pittsburg Vice Mayor Dionne Adams at Monday’s meeting, Jordan Davis, the city’s community and economic development director, said bringing in Cielo has helped bifurcate available spaces at the shopping center, making it easier to lease them out.
“Some of the businesses that have identified Pittsburg as a place they would like to grow. We’ve asked retail strategies to put this on their radar,” said Davis.
He noted the city has also begun discussing various opportunities with Sierra Pacific Property Inc.
“And while we don’t have anything yet, we think it’s going to be a lot easier to bring in a second tenant when you have a grocery store that’s right there, and two, have a space that’s much more attainable for businesses,” said Davis.