La Bonita market on Desert Inn, Eastern set to reopen after awning collapse nearly 2 years ago

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - It’s been nearly two years since the awning of the La Bonita Supermarket collapsed near Desert Inn Road and Eastern Avenue.

According to engineers, hired by Clark County, say the collapse was caused by a windstorm.

The engineer said the front canopy was completely ripped off the front of the building due to those strong winds.

On Friday, La Bonita representatives shared an update on the progress of reopening the market.

It is a market known for its food that comes from Latin America and is loved by many.

“It is very convenient,” said market regular Jeny Garcia. “It is nice, and the staff is very nice as well.”

For nearly two years, the La Bonita supermarket on Eastern and Desert Inn has been closed after the front of the building collapsed and injured four people.

“A lot of neighbors have been asking when are you going to open, we miss you, we have to drive so far now,” said La Bonita spokesperson Jessica Tabares.

Tabares said they are one step closer to reopening.

“We had to sit and wait and then we had to wait for the city,” said Tabares. “There are all these things that come into play, but we are finally going to be able to open beginning or mid of fall.

“It means a lot because that is right around the corner for me,” said Garcia. “Literally a skip and jump away.”

Crews were seen hard at work and making progress on the supermarket Friday. Tabares said once construction is completed, the inside of the market will have more checkout lanes and they plan to bring back their curbside services.

“Self-checkout,” said Tabares. “We are going to have our restaurant, the juice bar so we are going to have a lot of things in there.”

Tabares said when they do open, they plan to fill 120 positions.

“Some of the employees who were working at the store before the incident, some of them wanted to be re-located and they were and some of them wanted to wait until the store was re-open,” said Tabares.

La Bonita has seven locations across the valley with 1,000 employees total and has been operating in Clark County since 1991.