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Latino businesses make Park Street homeBy Matt Jarzemsky
This is Mercado Marimar, a small grocery store on what some call "Madison's multicultural street," South Park Street. The store opened in 2000, part of a boom in new businesses along South Park Street that cater to the nearby Hispanic community. Community leaders say the success of Hispanic businesses that opened since the turn of the decade reflects the evolution of the diverse neighborhoods bordering the street. "That has traditionally been one of the more diverse streets, for Asian businesses as well," said Isadore Knox, alderman for the 13th district, which includes the neighborhoods along much of South Park Street. "We certainly have one of the more diverse districts in the city, and the businesses are reflective of the demographics in the neighborhoods." The two census tracts covering many of the neighborhoods surrounding Park Street showed a 382 percent increase between 1990 and 2000 in people who identified themselves as Hispanic, an ethnic, rather than a racial, designation. The increase in Hispanics in the area was the largest increase of any racial or ethnic group. Businesses on Park Street with a Hispanic focus enjoy a location close to their target market and highly visible from a major Downtown artery. Many of the business owners say the area has become more competitive in recent years, but that they've had success attracting customers from the South Side and Downtown, and people driving by. Not worried about Wal-Mart For years, Mexican grocery store Mercado Marimar had two locations, a West Side store on Odana Road and a South Side store on South Park Street. Then the Park Street store's sales started doubling those of its Odana Road counterpart. In 2005, Mercado Marimar co-owner Maria Garcia decided to sell the Odana Road store and focus her efforts on Park Street. "At first, a lot of our clients traveled from the South Side to the West Side," Garcia said. "When we opened the one over here, it wasn't as busy at the West Side store. People don't like to travel if there's something close by." A small grocery store at 2102 S. Park St., Mercado Marimar's shelves are stocked with imported produce and groceries. The store also prepares bakery goods and tortillas daily, and its butcher, Octavio Ruiz, has developed a loyal following of customers seeking his custom cuts and recipes. Garcia and co-owner Martin Mora opened Mercado Marimar at its original location, 6715 Odana Road, in 1999, despite warnings from her cousin that owning a store is una espada de doble bilo, a "double-edged sword." "The better you do, the more it consumes your life," Garcia said. "I said I don't care and we opened the store. We did so well that we had this money and we bought this one." The Park Street store opened in September 2000, and within six months the owners saw the difference the new location made. Garcia owes her success to more than just Hispanic customers from nearby neighborhoods. She said the store draws people on their way to and from Downtown because of its location. Being on Park Street presents some challenges. The store's 10-spot parking lot is often full during the day, and cars coming and going battle traffic on the busy street. Garcia said she thinks increased competition on the street has hurt her sales slightly in the last two or three years. Mercado Marimar has an eating area inside the store, and new restaurants down the street provide consumers more options to get a meal. Still, Garcia has enough confidence in the goods and services she provides that a big competitor - like the soon-to-open South Side Wal-Mart - doesn't worry her. "They're not going to make fresh tortillas every day," she said. Competition The newest of the restaurants competing for business on Park Street is Taqueria Guadalajara, at 1033 S. Park St., in a space formerly occupied by Taqueria Morelos. Its owners hope to stand out with fresh, authentic Mexican food. Owned and run by Francisco Vasquez and Josefa Trejo, the restaurant features a menu of cilantro-heavy gorditas, soups, and other traditional Mexican foods. Within its lime green walls - covered with autographed pictures of Guadalajara Soccer Club players - the restaurant seats about 15. It opened in January, after the owner of Taqueria Morelos offered the space to Vasquez. Trejo's daughter, Imelda Trejo, is the restaurant's full-time waitress and the only English-speaking member of its staff. Imelda Trejo said the staff sees the restaurant's size as a strength. "We're really small," Imelda Trejo said. "We can't cook for the whole week. We only cook enough chicken for one day, and we cook it right up front." Imelda Trejo said that in the busy weeks following its opening, the restaurant served a mix of Downtown business employees, university students and people from nearby neighborhoods. She hopes the customers will keep coming. La Hacienda, a few blocks to the north, and El Pastor, a few blocks to the south, are constant reminders of the competition in the area. Vasquez, who had years of experience running a restaurant in Mexico but didn't know how to set up a fire inspection or contact the health department, found nearby restaurant owners reluctant to help. The feeling is, if you have a problem, solve it yourself, he said. Taqueria Guadalajara's owners learned the legal process of opening their business by attending food service management classes at Madison Area Technical College and working with Araceli Esparza, an outreach specialist at the Dane County Office of Equal Opportunity. "There are a lot of hurdles of language; we try to facilitate some of the processes," Esparza said. Esparza said she was happy to help Josefa Trejo, who had already established a clientele through her catering business. "She already had a following," Esparza said. "It was only a matter of time before she opened the restaurant." Commercial ugly Business and community leaders say they're optimistic about the future of international retailers and restaurants on Park Street. Some envision a pedestrian-friendly shopping corridor with a unified design theme. Rob Waterman, president of the South Metropolitan Business Association, points to the expansion of St. Mary's Hospital onto land adjacent to Park Street as an investment in the area. "They want it to be a vibrant area," Waterman said. "And I think overall you're going to be seeing neighborhood quality going up, businesses upgrading, people making an increased investment." Some observers say the state of the buildings on Park Street inhibits efforts to transform it into an attractive shopping district. Lezlie Cox helps manage 1709 S. Park St., a mixed-use building owned by Robert Cox Realty. She's skeptical of plans to give the street a facelift. There are a lot of individual building owners to get on board, and it would take more than a remodeling job for many of the buildings to mesh with an aesthetically pleasing design scheme, she said. "These buildings from the '60s and '70s have no inherent charm," she said. "You can't find the beautiful bones underneath these buildings; there are none. It's from the start of 'commercial ugly' - all stucco seems to be the predominant look." For many of the locksmiths, car repair shops, and other light industrial businesses that have operated in the area, commercial ugly has been just fine, Cox said. "Park Street's a great location," she said. "It's not pretty, but it's easily accessible and has high visibility and cheaper rents than you'd get Downtown." Park Bank vice president Pablo Sanchez agreed with Cox on the state of the buildings. Sanchez worked for five years at the 2401 S. Park St. branch of Park Bank. He said he really got the pulse of the Latino community there, while working to help Latinos become more financially literate. In 2005 he became the branch manager at Park Bank's Capitol Square branch. "I think you're seeing a tremendous growth in those businesses," Sanchez said. "But in most of those businesses, the parking lot is fairly small. Most of them don't own those buildings. They do great business, but they're limited based on the space that they have in there." Sanchez added he's seen recent interest in the corridor from his clients. "You're going to start seeing more and more people investing in that area," he said. "I have clients that are asking me, 'if anything comes up for sale there, let me know; I'm interested.' You didn't hear that before." Regardless of when and whether a larger Park Street revitalization project provides more opportunities for new businesses, current business owners say they'll continue to rely on patronage from the community. As a late lunch crowd filled Taqueria Guadalajara on a January afternoon, James Ploeser, a Service Employees International Union organizer, said he frequents the restaurant, and not just because it's located close to his office. "The business itself is a good place," he said. "It's owned by members of the community, and the food is really good." mdjvd3@mizzou.edu madison.com ©2009 Capital Newspapers. All rights reserved. |
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