Navarro moves ahead with growth plan

MIAMI — Navarro Discount Pharmacies signed new store leases in Homestead and Pembroke Pines and plans to add as many as 21 new store locations to its portfolio over the next three years.

The company, which is the largest Hispanic-owned drug store chain the United States, now has 28 existing store locations, and has three new locations under construction with planned store openings within the next three to nine months.

According to Paul DiBrito, Navarro's director of real estate and construction, the company's growth plans include adding as many as 21 new store locations in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties over the next three years, as well as remodeling up to five existing store locations annually. Three existing stores, including Hialeah Gardens, were remodeled in the last 12 months.

The 11,440-sq.-ft. Homestead store will target a Hispanic demographic that includes Mexicans. The Pembroke Pines store in Westfork Plaza comprises about 16,000 sq. ft. with demographics that include Puerto Rican and Venezuelan Hispanics.

In February, the retailer signed a lease for a new 14,000-sq.-ft. store in North Miami with such demographics as Haitian, African-American and Hispanic ethnicities.