Dos Hermanos Market owner Nicolas Arreola and his son Chris, 14, pose in the produce section of the grocery store on Michigan Avenue in Ypsilanti.
Nicolas Arreola measures success by the smiles on his customers' faces.
His Mexican market in downtown Ypsilanti - the only grocery store in the city - draws customers from Canton, Saline and Ann Arbor.
"We see new faces every day," said Arreola, who is celebrating a first year of success in Ypsilanti this month. "It's good for business."
But the store's growth is being watched by more than just its owner.
Ypsilanti downtown officials hope that Arreola's success is contagious because it is bringing more people downtown and the market is occupying a Michigan Avenue storefront that had been dark for years.
Arreola and his brother, Reyes, opened the store - and named it Dos Hermanos, or Two Brothers - to provide a much needed service for a growing Hispanic community.
Reyes Arreola manages a similar store in Adrian, and Nicolas Arreola and his wife, Yunuen, work at the Ypsilanti store.
Specialty foods attract shoppers from beyond Ypsilanti.
The store includes a meat market, grocery, produce, bread and other mainly Mexican spices and food. Arreola said the meat counter is the busiest section of the store, offering fresh meat, sausage and other delicacies, such as chicken feet and pork skin.The store also sells cooked food, such as roasted chicken and barbecued lamb, pork and goat meat. The tamales are a hot item, Nicolas Arreola said. His plans include a deli in the future.
Arreola said he does not know how many Hispanics live in the Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor area, but the community is growing judging by the new faces he sees. While more people are visiting the store, they are buying less.
"The economy is bad, but I am not complaining," he said.
Dos Hermanos is the only Mexican market outside of Detroit, said Jesus Herrera of Ann Arbor, who was shopping at the market with Cynthia Martinez this week. Martinez selected a package of sausage to cook for breakfast with eggs.
"It's nice to have the store," Martinez said.
Downtown officials are also happy to have the market in the city since there are no other traditional groceries, although the Ypsilanti Food-Co-Op is located on River Street and a few party stores sell a few types of groceries.
Brian Vosburg, director of the Ypsilanti Downtown Development Authority, said the lack of a grocery store in the city surfaces in most conversations. The Mexican market fills a need in the city, he said.
Dos Hermanos is occupying a building that had been empty for a few years in an area where it has not seen a lot of activities, Vosburg said. Other than Abe's restaurant and an employment agency, most of the block on the north side of Michigan Avenue between Hamilton and Ballard streets has been vacant, he said.
"It's a great store," Vosburg said. "It adds another reason to shop in Ypsilanti."