Thread: Empty shops reflect immigrants' empty wallets

4th Street's empty shops reflect immigrants' empty wallets

Business owners on Santa Ana street say immigrant clients suffering.

By CINDY CARCAMO
The Orange County Register

SANTA ANA – Trucks blasting Mexican country music whizzed by as couples and children munched on chili-laden cucumbers and peeked through shop windows.

It was just another afternoon on Fourth Street in downtown Santa Ana, which some describe as the pulse of the county's Mexican immigrant community.

On a recent day, the clans that typically crowd the streets were fewer than usual and the shop owners who normally cater to their every whim weren't selling.

"People just walk and walk by, but they don't spend," said Guillermina Madriles, owner of Mina's Bridal.

Lately, that's the feeling among some business owners on this street crammed with bridal and hair salons, bakeries and snack carts, jewelry stores that sell gold, and check-cashing stores that wire money south of the border.

The owners and entrepreneurs – many in business for decades – have weathered several economic recessions, but many say this is the worse they've seen it and are worried about their survival.

Madriles can barely afford to pay the electricity bill for her bridal store. Just east, at Moya's Bakery, the owner is waiting for anyone to make an offer on his business. And a handful of vacancies dot the shopping district where renters once fought each other for a spot to hawk their wares.

Traditionally, Fourth Street has been the place where Latino immigrants from throughout the county come to shop for goods and services amid their own language and cultures.

"They see it as a place to congregate and come to have dinner and do some shopping," Deputy City Manager Cindy Nelson said. "Downtown Santa Ana has always been an important element of the historic district and Fourth Street has been the prominent retail spine of that area."

The hustle and bustle of the district is like the heartbeat of the downtown area, which produces $2.6 million in sales tax yearly.

In addition to having to compete with larger retailers, such as Target and Kohl's who have captured the Latino market, business owners face deeper challenges.

They say they're struggling to stay open because their clients – mostly Mexican immigrants who were already living on a shoestring – are now struggling to pay rent and put food on the table.

There are indications that some immigrants – legal and illegal – have called it quits and left for the comfort and family support of their homeland. Others are sending fewer dollars to families back home and have barely enough to survive, let alone shop for non-essentials.

STREET MIRRORS IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY

Like many people across Orange County and the rest of the country, Fourth Street shop owners and shoppers are faced with layoffs, slashed work hours and foreclosed homes.

This half-mile stretch of Fourth Street could be an indication of how well immigrants are weathering the economic crisis.

Immigrants – especially the undocumented – are among the hardest hit during economic downturns because they lack the governmental and social family institutions they left behind, said Jorge Chapa, director of the Illinois-based Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society.

A good portion of these immigrants make up much of the workforce in industries that have taken a big dive, such as construction.

And whatever happens on Fourth Street and in other immigrant communities will have ramifications for Santa Ana city coffers and the Orange County community as a whole, experts say.

Longtime Guadalajara Jewelers has lost at least half its clientele.

"We're making more discounts than ever," said Guadalajara owner Louis Pescarmona. "We never had to, but now we're forced to just to make a sale."

Pescarmona, who established the anchor store in 1975, said the Fourth Street shopping district rarely had vacancies as far back as he can remember. But he said he expects to see more empty stores if the economy doesn't pick up within a year or so.

Vacancies have popped up, most along the west end of the street between Birch and Broadway. Some shop owners now only open during the weekend.

On a recent weekday afternoon, Madriles' eyes lit up when she made a $550 dress sale – her first real sale of the week.

"But you can't survive with one sale, that's the point," she said. "I would have sold that dress for $750 or $800 in good times."

When she first started, Madriles didn't even have time to sit down for lunch. She was too busy making at least a dozen dress sales a day, she said.

"I had one employee with the food and another with water feeding me," she said laughing.

Business turned south in the fall of 2007, she said.

Now Madriles is giving away wedding dresses in the store for free or at wholesale cost just to move inventory. In addition, she'll put on an entire 200-plus-guest wedding reception for about $7,000 – including the banquet hall, decorations, wedding cake, food and even a dress.

"But when people are not buying, people are not going to come, no matter what you do," she said.

She says the only reason she hasn't closed up shop is because she owns the building and her friends and family work for free.

"I will only last another six months, or find a way to rent or sell the building," she said.

Other bridal shop owners on the street have told her they are waiting for their leases to expire so they can close down, Madriles said.

Just across the street at Aries hair salon, business is down about 80 percent, said manager Maribel Gomez. The salon, which once employed nine people and had lines out the door on weekends, is down to about two workers.

Most of their clientele – about 90 percent immigrants who live anywhere from down the street to as far away as Lake Forest – aren't working as much or have lost jobs and homes, she said.

"Women who used to come every month now maybe come once every two months," Gomez said. "Those who came every two months now come every six months. For some of these people, it's not about saving anymore, it's about surviving."

RECESSION-PROOF SHOP

About the only business that is faring well is the Catholic gift shop, where income has remained pretty much steady, owner Samuel Romero said.

"When things are good, I sell religious items because it's 'Thank the Lord.' When things are bad, it's 'Lord, help me,'" said Romero, who has been on Fourth Street for 16 years.

He said he believes he absorbed customers from the closure of two other Catholic gift shop stores in the county that catered to a more white clientele.

"On average, Anglos spend more than the poor Hispanic immigrants," Romero said.

Now, he has an English-only section with children's books and Bibles.

Romero, who sometimes serves as an impromptu psychiatrist for his customers, said he's had more customers come in for help."They've lost their jobs," he said. "They don't know what to do."

Contact the writer: 714-445-6688 or ccarcamo@ocregister.com

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/stre ... slComments

"On average, Anglos spend more than the poor Hispanic immigrants," Romero said.

Now, he has an English-only section with children's books and Bibles.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So he finally figured out that he should sell books that have the language of the country that his shop is in? Better late than never.

He said he believes he absorbed customers from the closure of two other Catholic gift shop stores in the county that catered to a more white clientele.

"On average, Anglos spend more than the poor Hispanic immigrants," Romero said.

Now, he has an English-only section with children's books and Bibles.

That's what happens when you cater to just one group......how nice Americans have a choice in a Latino businss to have things in English. Not to mention....since when is being Catholic an Anglo or Latino relegion? Or that all Anglos speak English? LOL

Booohooohooo...another illegal alien sob story. Let me look for my hankies and stradavarius....hmmm...... I know i put it in this closet last week.

And whatever happens on Fourth Street and in other immigrant communities will have ramifications for Santa Ana city coffers and the Orange County community as a whole, experts say.

Longtime Guadalajara Jewelers has lost at least half its clientele.

"We're making more discounts than ever," said Guadalajara owner Louis Pescarmona. "We never had to, but now we're forced to just to make a sale."



I'm left shaking my head over this one........ over the audacity of any statement bemoaning the diminished spending habits of the "immigrant community" anywhere in CA

Illegal aliens in CA have driven that entire state into complete and utter financial devastation. Billions upon billions of dollars spent providing these people with welfare, food stamps, housing, education, medical care, etc......the majority of it obtained, and maintained, through rampant fraud and abuse of the system.

The very SAME "immigrants" being fully subsidized by the American taxpayer because they are "poor", are, in fact, the very SAME people doing all of this glorious shopping and dining out at "Fourth Street and in other immigrant communities" and frequenting shops like the jeweler mentioned.


Hiow much of the money these "big spenders" are shelling out comes from the benefit checks and the income which goes unreported to the welfare office and when it comes to paying state and federal income taxes? How much of the "fine dining experience" is paid for through misuse of food stamps benefits? How many of these people with plenty of money to spend on shopping and dining, amazingly enough don't have the money necessary to pay for their own housing and medical care?

Dire consequences to coffers if these people can't shop and dine out huh?

What in the Hell about the dire consequences to the coffers these people are bleeding to financial death in order to finance their grandiose spending sprees?

Have these people not notice that the economy is crashing around us - not only just for illegals. Many stores have gone out of business - Circuit City comes to mind. Boy, these folks sure have tunnel vision. If it's not all about them, they don't even acknowledge it.