Born and raised in a Dominican village without electricity, 52-year-old Roberto Corona recently paid $1.75 million for a downtown East Hartford building that houses his Key Food supermarket.
Corona said he came to America at age 17 with his parents as a migrant worker but ended up staying. He left behind a home in a small rural village outside Santiago.
At 6 a.m. the morning after Corona arrived in this country, he was stocking shelves and sweeping floors at his uncle’s grocery store in Newark, New Jersey.
Not content to have his children working for others, Corona’s father, Juan, launched a small grocery in Brooklyn in 1992.
Six years later, Roberto Corona said, he bought a Brooklyn grocery store from an uncle.
Roberto and his brother, Anthony, launched a grocery store in Bridgeport in 2011. Two years later, they converted the business into a Key Food store, Corona said.
Roberto Corona said his brother bought his portion of the Bridgeport business, giving him seed capital to launch a full-service grocery store at 950 Main St. in downtown East Hartford on Feb. 23, 2022.
Corona said he employs 20 people. Business has been OK, Corona said, but he is still trying to spread awareness. He opted to buy the 15,037-square-foot East Hartford building in a $1.75 million deal that was recorded Dec. 30. The property includes 1.7 acres of land.
Corona purchased the property from Stoltz and Lowenstein LLC. The seller’s principal is Frances Lowenstein, of West Hartford.
“It is better to own the building,” Corona said.
Mayor Michael Walsh said Corona’s purchase represents a welcome long-term commitment for a valued local retailer.
East Hartford has five large grocery stores but no “big box,” chain grocery stores, Walsh said. “So, a full-service store like Key Foods is so valued, not only along Main Street but in all of East Hartford. The town is indebted to Mr. Corona and his family as a grocery store like his is a key component to a community’s vitality.”
