Cut!

It looked more like a Hollywood lot than a Latino supermarket. Suddenly, the meat counter and cutlets became props and the butchers were stars for the evening in a new series of ads being produced for Tianguis, a Latino-oriented supermarket chain. Television monitors, cameras, video equipment of all kinds were rolled up and down grocery aisles like shopping carts.

Tianguis, which is about to open its third store, is preparing to break a series of ads on several Latino television stations. This is the first time the chain has used television advertising, said Chris Linskey, general manager of the chain owned by El Monte-based Vons. The ads were created by the Latino ad firm Valdes-Zacky Associates.

Among the employees being featured is Raul H. Paredes, a Pico Rivera resident, who is a butcher at Tianguis. Although Paredes, 25, has never been in a commercial before, he said he wasn’t nervous. “In Mexico,” he explained, “I used to dance in front of large groups on Cinco de Mayo, so why should this make me nervous?”