Even before Manuela Barraza and her husband, Jose Arevalo, moved to Minneapolis and decided to start a business, they were no strangers to hard work. Both put in long hours at low-wage jobs in California -- Manuela as a hotel housekeeper; Jose as a restaurant employee. Neither made more than $6 per hour. But living close to downtown Los Angeles gave Manuela a chance to regularly visit retail stores that piqued her interest, talk with the owners and learn a thing or two about how to work with wholesalers.
Manuela and Jose began building their entrepreneurial dream even while working full-time jobs at a “big-box” appliance store and raising their five young children. In their free time, they created handmade party favors in their small, two-bedroom apartment.
By 1996, they were able to open their first retail store and customers quickly began asking for other party items, especially clothing. That prompted the couple to begin carrying baptismal gowns, kid-sized tuxedos and frilly white dresses for first communions, and the fancy party dresses worn for the traditional Hispanic quinceañera, the celebration of a girl's 15th birthday.
Manuela and Jose fill an unusual market niche, stocking a wide variety of party and special occasion items aimed in part at the area's large Hispanic community. Especially popular are their handmade party favors.
Party hosts typically purchase the favors for guests invited to a wide variety of events, including: weddings and wedding showers, baby showers and baptisms, first communions, and the quinceañera celebration. Indeed, the favors are so popular, it is not unusual for hosts to purchase as many as 40-50 dozen for a wedding reception -- paying $20-30 per dozen.
Building their business has meant obtaining financing. And for that the couple turned to Neighborhood Development Center (NDC), a community-based non-profit organization that works in both inner city Minneapolis and St. Paul to help emerging entrepreneurs launch businesses that serve their communities. Since opening their first business, the couple has obtained four loans and a line of credit. Along with financial support, NDC also has provided some technical expertise on managing and operating the business. NDC loan officer, Rachel Dolan, describes Manuela's payment history as “stellar,” adding, “she is never late with a payment; if anything she pre-pays.”
These days, Manuela and Jose are the proud owners of four stores and a four-bedroom home in a stable, moderate-income neighborhood in Minneapolis. Moreover, after years of patching together income from full-time employment, plus their small businesses, both were able to quit their outside jobs in early 2000 and now are full-time entrepreneurs.
And that makes Manuela beam with pleasure. Aside from enjoying contact with customers in her stores, Manuela says, through an interpreter, that what she likes most about operating a business is “being able to progress through our own effort -- our own hard work. When we arrived (in Minneapolis) we lived in a small, ugly apartment. After all our hard work, we now have a nice house. ... Business has been good.”
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