Todos Supermarket has found a new home.
The grocer, which has catered to Hispanics, will move to a new location at 16677 River Ridge Boulevard, just off Route 1 in the River Oaks section of Woodbridge.
The 65,000 square foot store will be the second Todo’s location in Woodbridge. A Todos store located in the Dumfries Shopping Plaza, about three miles south of the new location, will close. For many, the Dumfries store was one of the few sources of fresh food in what otherwise is a food desert in the town.
The next largest grocer is Food Lion, about two miles north, or Wegmans, which 8 miles north.
Todos CEO Carlos Castro told Potomac Local News he was running out of space in his Dumfries store and needed to either build a new store in the town’s shopping center or move.
“The opportunity [to move to River Oaks] came up, and my first answer was, “no,” explained Castro. “Someday, I need to retire.”
But he thought better of the deal with the landlord at the River Oaks Shopping Center offered a nearly half-million-dollar incentive to move.
The new store’s look and feel will be different from the Dumfries store and its flagship store in Marumsco Plaza in Woodbridge. Both locations, Marumsco and River Oaks, originally opened as Giant Food stores.
Castro says the new River Oaks location will be a cross between a regular grocery store and a big-box price club, with a mix of fresh food, small groceries, and pallets of big-box items. The store will feel less like a Hispanic supermarket, he said.
“We want it to look more modern, and we want to be a supplier for small businesses in the area who don’t want to make a trip across [Interstate] 95 to get a bottle of cleaner,” said Castro.
The new location will also have a cafe, which has proven popular at the Marumsco Plaza store. Castro said more people are returning to his cafe as the pandemic wanes.
“We are so happy to see the cafe full of people again,” said Castro. “It’s springtime, and people feel like they need to get out of the house.”
The new location will need to hire at least 90 new employees and open by the end of summer.
In the meantime, Todos is working with a consultant to look for new land or existing space in need of redevelopment in the Stafford County and Fredericksburg area to expand the business.
Todos first opened its doors in Woodbridge in 1990.
