New Hispanic supermarket built to serve Wilmington’s growing community at 9 Sunnyvale Drive

The new Los Portales, Sunnyvale supermarket brings a full-service Hispanic grocery experience to the Carolina Beach Road corridor in Wilmington, North Carolina. Nipper Construction supported the owners in taking this site from concept to a finished neighborhood market, with a focus on schedule, coordination, and field execution that would allow the store to open on time and start serving customers quickly.

Creating a full-service neighborhood supermarket

Los Portales, Sunnyvale is part of a growing family of Los Portales locations in Wilmington, NC, offering fresh produce, meat, baked goods, pantry staples, and other Latin and Hispanic products in one place. The Sunnyvale store was designed to function as a true neighborhood supermarket, with the layout, systems, and finishes all working together to support daily foot traffic and a broad mix of goods and services. From a construction standpoint, that meant:

• Planning for grocery-specific needs such as refrigeration, display cases, and back-of-house storage.
• Coordinating circulation for customers, staff, and deliveries so the store feels open and easy to navigate.
• Delivering a clean, durable interior that can handle high daily use while still feeling welcoming to shoppers.

Schedule-first planning around a firm opening window

For a supermarket, every month of delay has a tangible impact on revenue and community momentum. Nipper approached the Sunnyvale project by building a realistic schedule around the target opening window and then working backward to align permitting, utilities, interior buildout, and equipment needs. Key elements of that approach included:

• Establishing a detailed construction schedule tied to permit approvals, inspections, and equipment delivery dates.
• Holding regular look-ahead meetings to keep trades aligned on sequence, manpower, and dependencies.
• Keeping the owners informed about schedule risks early so decisions could be made before they became field problems.

That schedule discipline helped position Los Portales, Sunnyvale to open as planned and begin serving customers alongside the brand’s other Wilmington locations.

Coordinating systems for a live grocery environment

Supermarkets rely on more than walls and fixtures. They depend on coordinated systems, refrigeration, electrical, mechanical, lighting, and life safety, that all have to be installed, tested, and signed off before doors can open. On the Sunnyvale project, Nipper’s field team focused on:

• Coordinating refrigeration, electrical, and mechanical trades so equipment could be installed and commissioned without rework.
• Planning inspections and testing ahead of time so that final approvals did not threaten the opening date.
• Supporting owner and vendor coordination in areas like coolers, display cases, and point-of-sale locations, so the store would be ready for real customers on day one.

The result is a fully operational Hispanic supermarket at 9 Sunnyvale Drive that reflects the owners’ vision of a neighborhood market and Nipper’s commitment to schedule, coordination, and straightforward execution.  

Planning a retail or grocery project in Wilmington or the Coastal Carolinas? Talk with Nipper Construction about schedule-first planning and coordination for your next commercial build.

Read the full Los Portales – Sunnyvale case study, or see how Nipper approaches commercial general contracting for retail and grocery projects. Planning a similar project? Contact Nipper Construction or call (910) 399-1499.