Shih said Yogurtland learned a very important lesson from this situation, one that it practices today. "You have to take a careful, microscopic look at the markets before entering," Shih said. Especially the Hispanic markets, he went on to say. What went over well in Venezuela clearly didn't fly in Mexico. Yogurtland began making changes in its marketing approach, which also involved changing the "You Rule" tagline.

Busting the myth of the homogenous marketplace was, in fact, the goal of speakers participating on the "Retailers Showcase" panel. Moderated by Arturo Sneider, partner with Primestore Development Inc., the panel's speakers shared experiences and ideas about marketing to different Hispanic groups.

For example, Sneider indicated that, in general, there needs to be more sit-down restaurant concepts for Hispanic diners, given that within this demographic, meals are more than eat-and-run affairs. Colin Crawford, executive director, real estate with Panda Restaurant Group Inc. expanded on this issue somewhat further.

Panda Express in the United States is known for its smaller real estate footprint, as the restaurant's focus is take-out Asian food. However, in Mexico, it was found that diners spent more time in the restaurants. "We see a lot of larger families there, as eating out is more an experience," Crawford said. "People spend time over meals, enjoying family and friends."

Hunter Stansbury, Wingstop Restaurants' Vice President of Real Estate also sees this trend.

Wingstop locations operate in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, meaning a high concentration of Hispanics that emigrated from Mexico. "If diners in those restaurants are going to eat food they haven't prepared, they want to spend more time over those meals," he explained. "As such, those (Wingstop) stores are larger."

Meanwhile, William B. Horner discussed another type of retail; that of health clubs and fitness facilities. As CFO with Fitness International LLC (which owns and operates LA Fitness facilities), he discussed some findings from one of company's operations in Hialeah, FL. "The customer base there is largely Hispanic, and somewhat older," he commented.

Furthermore, a good chunk of the customer base is female. The same thing is occurring at LA Fitness operations in Downey, CA. The health gym, once the bastion of white males is now attracting Hispanic females. "It's making us set up things a little differently," Horner said. "There is a lot of income in that demographic."