This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

El Mercado Fresco is a Hispanic grocery at 5117 Independence Ave in the Historic Northeast, open since 2016 with an on-site butcher and scratch bakery. It is the anchor of a locally owned KC-metro family chain run by the Musallet and Zaben families.12

  • Name: El Mercado Fresco (Independence Ave location)
  • Type: Hispanic / Mexican grocery ◐
  • Owner: Eddie Musallet and Sam Zaben (and families) ◐1
  • Established: 2016 at this location ◐1
  • Address: 5117 Independence Ave, Kansas City, MO 6412432
  • Signature: Marinated meats, fresh seafood, scratch bakery (panadería) ◐
  • Status: Active ◐
  • Tier: 1 (locally owned KC-metro family chain) ◐

Description

El Mercado Fresco is a Hispanic grocery offering an authentic variety of Mexican and Latin American products: carefully selected produce, fresh meat and seafood, marinated meats, dried salt fish, and scratch-made bakery items.1 The Independence Ave store runs an on-site butcher (carnicería) and bakery (panadería).1 Hours are Monday through Sunday, 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.3

Ownership and history

The Independence Avenue store opened in 2016 with a mission to serve Historic Northeast Kansas City’s diversely populated community.1 El Mercado Fresco is a locally owned family enterprise operated by Eddie Musallet and Sam Zaben and their families, and has grown to roughly nine Hispanic and ethnic grocery stores across the Kansas City metro on both the Missouri and Kansas sides.1 It is a KC-metro chain, but a locally owned and operated one — not a national brand — which keeps it within Registry Tier 1 scope; the multi-store footprint is noted here for transparency.

The nine-store count is corroborated first-party as of 2026-08-13: the company site’s footer lists nine KC-metro addresses — 5117 Independence Ave and 2620 Independence Ave (KCMO), 6859 Longview Rd (KCMO), 3500 Blue Ridge Cutoff (KCMO), 6599 N Oak Trafficway (Gladstone), 5901 Independence Ave (Independence), 2102 Metropolitan Ave and 7533 State Ave (KCK), and 10303 Metcalf Ave (Overland Park) — plus a new store outside the metro at 1640 S Broadway, Wichita, KS 67211, the chain’s first documented expansion beyond Kansas City.45 on individual store opening dates and on the Wichita store’s opening year.

Last verified: 2026-08-13 · Source: first-party site (stores page and weekly-ad page) · URL: https://www.elmercadofresco.com/copy-of-independence-ave; https://www.elmercadofresco.com/weekly-ad · Confidence: High (that no menu exists)

Not applicable — this is a grocery store, not a prepared-food business. El Mercado Fresco publishes no restaurant menu; menu_status is set to na rather than unverified.

Departments named by the company and by Northeast News: produce, fresh meat and poultry, seafood, marinated meats, dried salt fish, grocery, an on-site butcher (carnicería), and a scratch bakery (panadería).14

The company runs a weekly ad covering all stores, with the Independence Ave store grouped with Fresh Market, Longview Rd, 5901 Independence Ave, Blue Ridge, and Gladstone for pricing; the current cycle is dated 8-12-26 to 8-18-26.4 The ad’s item prices are published only as images, not as extractable text, so no itemized grocery pricing is recorded here. Weekly-ad prices are in any case promotional and expire within seven days — they are not a stable price record for this page.

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Northeast News, “El Mercado Fresco is ‘Just Around The Corner.’” — asserts: store started 2016 at 5117 Independence Ave to serve the Historic Northeast; part of a nine-store KC-metro chain owned/operated by Eddie Musallet and Sam Zaben and families; sells marinated meats, dried salt fish, produce, fresh meat and seafood; on-site butcher and bakery. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  2. El Mercado Fresco official website and locations page — asserts: company operates the Hispanic grocery brand including the Independence Ave, Kansas City location. ↩ ↩2

  3. Yelp, “El Mercado Fresco — 5117 Independence Ave, Kansas City” (updated July 2026) — asserts: store at 5117 Independence Ave, open Mon–Sun 7am–10pm, phone (816) 800-4580, operating as of July 2026. ↩ ↩2

  4. El Mercado Fresco — weekly ad page — accessed 2026-08-13; ad cycle stated as valid 8-12-26 to 8-18-26. asserts: the Independence Ave store shares an ad group with Fresh Market, Longview Rd, 5901 Independence Ave, Blue Ridge, and Gladstone; separate ads run for Metropolitan/Metcalf and for State Ave; department list includes Meat and Poultry, Fresh Produce, and Grocery. The page footer lists nine KC-metro store addresses (5117 Independence Ave KCMO; 6859 Longview Rd KCMO; 2102 Metropolitan Ave KCK; 2620 Independence Ave KCMO; 5901 Independence Ave, Independence MO; 3500 Blue Ridge Cutoff KCMO; 10303 Metcalf Ave, Overland Park KS; 6599 N Oak Trafficway, Gladstone MO; 7533 State Ave KCK). Item prices are published as images only and are not extractable as text. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. El Mercado Fresco — official stores page (Independence Ave entry) — accessed 2026-08-13. asserts: Independence Ave store at 5117 Independence Ave, Kansas City, MO 64124; hours Monday–Sunday 7:00 a.m.–10:00 p.m.; phone (816) 800-4580 (first-party confirmation of the number previously carried on Yelp only); sibling stores at Longview Rd, Metropolitan Ave (KCK), 2620 Independence Ave (“Fresh Market”), and a new Wichita store at 1640 S Broadway. ↩ ↩2

More from the Registry

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See also

  • Registry
  • Owner-And-History-Research-Toolchain
Categories

On the record — ks.city/registry/el-mercado-fresco · record updated 2026-08-13