For the first time in the company's history, Sedano's Supermarkets is expanding outside of South Florida.

The Hispanic supermarket chain said Friday it has a deal to purchase three Albertson's stores in the Orlando area that will be converted into the Sedano's brand. Terms of the deal, which is scheduled to close in the first quarter of next year, were not disclosed.

Sedano's, which opened its first store in Hialeah in 1962, has already grown to 30 stores in the Tri-County area and markets itself as the largest independently-owned Hispanic supermarket chain. The company's same-store sales for the year are up 6 percent.

``It's the next logical step,'' said Javier Herrán, director of marketing. ``We've been studying the area for quite some time. We think it's a good time for our low-price strategy and our ability to cater to the Hispanic customer.''

Greater Orlando's Hispanic population for 2009 is estimated at 496,407, an increase of 83 percent over 2000. More than half the Hispanics in the Orlando area are of Puerto Rican decent.

The expansion to Central Florida is just one part of a new strategy by Sedano's management to grow the family-owned company by attracting younger customers who have grown up in the United States. The new focus corresponds with the second generation of the Herrán and Guerra families taking over the day-to-day operations of the chain their fathers founded.

Following the closing of the Albertson's deal, plans call for converting the stores to the Sedano's format while they remain open, Herrán said.

Since these locations -- which average about 60,000 square feet -- are bigger than the traditional Sedano's, they will likely carry more non-Hispanic products.

By opening three stores simultaneously, Sedano's hopes to quickly become a major market player.

``We wanted to make a big impact,'' Herran said. ``We didn't want to just open one store.''

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