Walk into El Primo Produce & Restaurant in Norristown and you could leave with a full belly, a week's worth of groceries, fresh pan dulce, and a pair of cowboy boots — all from the same 11,000-square-foot building. What started as a small grocery store has grown into a sprawling one-stop shop for Mexican food and culture, run by a family that has been building it piece by piece for years.
According to 6abc Philadelphia, the space includes a restaurant, a grocery store stocked with fresh produce and pantry items, a bakery turning out fresh pastries and breads, a butcher shop, a juice bar, shelves of novelty and gift items, and even a section devoted to authentic cowboy boots, belts and sombreros. The business is located at 1700 Markley St. in Norristown, Pennsylvania, per a listing on local.yahoo.com.
El Primo's own website describes itself with a simple rundown of its offerings: tortillería, carnicería, bakery, tienda. On its about page, the company says it was established in 2008 and launched its store in Norristown, Pennsylvania, and it markets its food as made with fresh, authentic and regionally sourced ingredients imported from Mexico, according to elprimoproduce.com.
From a Grocery Store to a Family Empire
The business traces back to Felix Ceron, who worked in restaurants after immigrating to the United States from Mexico in 1992, the station's report notes. He went on to open the original El Primo as a grocery store roughly 16 years before the outlet's story was published, and from there the whole family grew it into a taco stand and then into a full restaurant.
Today, Felix's sons Danny and Eli Ceron, who were born and raised in the United States, are involved in the family business their father started. The pair told the outlet that this type of combined shop, blending groceries, food and retail under one roof, is not unusual in their family's hometown of Puebla, Mexico, and that they want guests at El Primo to feel transported there.
That intention shows up in the details: the restaurant uses booths and tables imported from Mexico, and hand-painted murals created by an artist who flies in from Mexico decorate the space, per the same account. It is a physical effort to recreate a piece of Puebla inside a Montgomery County storefront.
A Seven-Business Family Footprint
El Primo is just one piece of what the Ceron family has built. The family's holdings now total seven hospitality businesses altogether, including a nightclub in Wilmington, Delaware, and a full bakery located across the street from El Primo itself, the report states.
The Norristown flagship recently cleared another hurdle in its growth: El Primo was approved for a liquor license, and seasonal adult beverages should be making their way onto the menu soon, according to the same reporting. Pennsylvania residents curious about how liquor licensing works statewide can search retail and wholesale license records through the PLCB+ online system maintained by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.
Hours and What to Expect
For now, El Primo Produce & Restaurant's store is open daily from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., while its restaurant is open daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and later on weekends, per the outlet's reporting. Whether shoppers are there for tacos, tortillas, fresh-cut meat, or a new pair of boots, the Ceron family's expanding footprint suggests Norristown's grocery-store-turned-cultural-hub is still growing.
