Facing immigration fears and inflation, a 25-year Watsonville family business fights to survive

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As she waits for customers to trickle into her clothing store, La Minita, on a Friday afternoon, Maria Ceballos busies herself with altering the hems of jeans her customers have dropped off throughout the week. 

The sound of her small sewing machine and radio playing Spanish-language hits, like “Eso y Más” by Joan Sebastian, are the soundtrack to an otherwise quiet store found inside an even quieter discount mall in downtown Watsonville. 

Typically, weekends are the busiest days for a store like Ceballos’, but lately, it doesn’t feel like that. “As you can see it’s empty,” she said, gesturing to the halls of the discount mall. 

The empty hallways tell a broader story of economic distress hitting Santa Cruz County’s immigrant communities. 

For nearly 25 years, Ceballos and her husband, Noe, have sold Western-style clothing inside the discount mall on Rodriguez Street. They have remained in the same spot since their business’ beginnings. But like many business owners in Watsonville, Ceballos has felt the impact of continued immigration enforcement across the country and state on her monthly sales. 

Across the region, heightened immigration fears have transformed bustling commercial centers into what merchants describe as ghost towns. At this mall on Rodriguez Street, where dozens of mainly Latino-owned businesses serve the local community, shop owners face a dual crisis: customers staying home for fear of immigration raids, and inflation, which has raised wholesale pricing, squeezing retailer’s already thin margins.

“This has been affecting us terribly,” Ceballos said in Spanish. 

In recent months, Ceballos and her husband have noticed their sales have decreased by 50%, she said. “There are days where I sell nothing, and other days where I sell a few things,” she told Lookout. 

La Minita is not the only business seeing a drastic drop in revenue. Several other owners of the nearly 30 businesses inside the discount mall told Lookout they are facing similar issues: no customers and no sales.

Carmen Herrera-Mansir, executive director for El Pájaro Community Development Corporation, told Lookout that many of the businesses the nonprofit works with are reporting that their sales have fallen as much as 70% this year. 

El Pájaro CDC helps small businesses in Watsonville get started by offering support applying for loans, developing business and marketing plans, and managing employees. The nonprofit also has retail and food kitchen incubators for low- to moderate-income entrepreneurs to launch their business. 

The businesses most affected by an economic downturn lately are retail businesses, said Herrera-Mansir. “People are not coming to their businesses,” she said. And one of the reasons is straightforward: Community members don’t feel safe enough to go outside to shop due to immigration fears. Many would rather save their disposable income in case of an emergency or if they need legal help. 

Business owners rely on their customers to purchase from them to help pay their bills, such as rent for the space they’re using, but also their personal expenses, said Herrera-Mansir. The property owners of the discount mall have increased rent prices this year, said Ceballos. 

“It’s difficult sometimes to pay for the rent because of the increase in price and low sales,” she said. “I’m lucky I don’t have to pay any additional employees. So, we do whatever is possible to cover our rent first.” 

Most mornings, Ceballos pulls back the large white curtains covering her shop to unveil an array of leather cowboy and work boots, hats and nearly anything one would need to complete a country-inspired outfit. 

Her first instinct in the morning is to clean up the two spaces her business takes up near one of the mall’s many entrances. It’s routine for her. “My husband tends to leave a lot of merchandise out from the day before, and now I have to put it back,” she said, walking over to the attic-like storage space her husband built to store the extra boxes of boots. 

When customers do arrive, Ceballos tries to make them feel at home, sparking up casual conversations as they browse the boots and clothing on display. She asks them what they’re looking for, and if they have any particular preference. It’s her favorite part of being a business owner. 

Throughout the day, it’s common for longtime customers and community members to stop by just to talk with Ceballos about life and crack jokes. It’s all part of the beauty of being a business owner inside the discount mall, as many of the business owners have been there for decades — they’ve become a community staple. 

Until this year, customers would typically take their time as they shopped, and chat with Ceballos. Now, no one is taking a seat in one of the leather chairs in her store like they used to, she said. “People are practically running out,” she said. “They come to the store, buy what they’re looking for, and leave. No one wants to stay for too long.” 

It’s clear to Ceballos that the slowdown in business is directly related to residents being scared of possible immigration raids in Watsonville. 

When the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department carried out a search warrant related to illegal cannabis activity at a warehouse in Royal Oaks last month, several businesses inside the discount mall — only 4 miles away from the warehouse — closed for the day, Ceballos’ husband, Noe, told Lookout. Other businesses didn’t open until later in the afternoon, he added. 

Like many businesses, there are special events, such as graduations and Father’s Day, that drive sales at La Minita. Every year when the California Rodeo Salinas comes around, it’s a big business week, said Ceballos. But this year, it didn’t feel like there was a rodeo at all. 

“I was ready with extra products and merchandise,” said Ceballos. “The merchandise didn’t sell because people didn’t come.” There was probably one day where three customers came in to buy boots specifically for the rodeo, Ceballos recalls. Usually every year, La Minita is buzzing and filled with customers wanting the perfect outfit for the event.

Ceballos thinks rumors of immigration officials in Salinas before the rodeo scared people from attending the event. “People would much rather stay at home than risk being detained by ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement],” she said. 

Herrera-Mansir has seen similar concerns play out at other annual local community gatherings and festivals.“Even when there are events in downtown Watsonville, like the Fourth of July parade, there’s always an expectation that there will be more sales,” she said. “It wasn’t the same as in previous years.” 

Another issue the couple is running into is dealing with the price of goods increasing drastically due to inflation, even as Ceballos and her husband want to maintain fair prices for customers who are being squeezed by a slowing economy, Ceballos said. 

Most of the products sold at La Minita are imported from Mexico, she said. The couple feels relieved that tariffs aren’t being imposed on the majority of products coming from Mexico, said Ceballos. “Other businesses in the discount mall are having to increase their prices because their merchandise is coming from countries impacted by tariffs,” she said. 

All the boots for sale at La Minita are made from real leather, said Ceballos, and prices range from $100 to $300, depending on the style and brand of the boot. The most popular styles at the store are work boots for construction and farm workers. 

Yet while the price of boots and other merchandise — like hats and belts — has increased, there’s no way Ceballos would ever increase the prices on products, she said. “We see how bad the economy is right now, and I thought, why increase the prices if it’s not getting better,” she said. 

A lot of those customers have been shopping at La Minita since it first opened 25 years ago, said Ceballos. “Even though we’re not earning the same amount of money, we’re going to keep our prices the same,” she said. 

She’s willing to lower the prices of boots even further sometimes — especially if a customer is debating whether or not to buy. Last week, when a new customer came into La Minita looking for boots to wear for a concert, Ceballos gave her a $20 discount on boots that cost $160. 

“They’re looking for quality shoes, for a lower price,” she said. “They have the option to go to a different store, but won’t find the same style of shoe. So, I don’t mind lowering the price.” It wouldn’t be fair for their customers to increase their prices by at least $20, said Ceballos. 

While Ceballos is committed to keeping prices of her products relatively the same, she’s had to increase the price she charges for alterations by a few dollars. If she’s not helping a customer find the perfect boot or hat, Ceballos is often sewing up a storm. 

Ceballos is often greeted with piles of clothing from customers who have dropped them off on days her husband is working at the shop, she said. If customers purchase a pair of jeans at La Minita, Ceballos even offers her alteration service for free, she said. 

“My mom taught me how to sow when I was 5 years old,” Ceballos said as she measured a pair of jeans with a yardstick to ensure she was cutting the right amount of fabric off. Ideally, she’d like to take on more elaborate repairs, but would rather have more time to help customers. 

To help bring more business to the store, and also to neighbors at the discount mall, Ceballos has turned to social media, posting videos of her talking through new products available at La Minita.

She told Lookout that her online followers are more receptive and likely to inquire about products this way, rather than a simple picture and description. Other times, she’s doing livestreams on Facebook and speaking with her fellow business owners about their stores in hopes of attracting more customers to leave their homes and visit the discount mall. 

The marketing training services offered by El Pájaro CDC are high in demand lately, said Herrera-Minsar. If business owners express the need for help, the nonprofit will do its best to provide support. 

“Now, more than ever, people should be shopping locally,” said Herrera-Minsar. She encourages the Watsonville community to support local businesses during this time of uncertainty. 

Ceballos and her husband have also started to offer home delivery services for a lot of their customers. It’s a service they’ve only just started because of increasing immigration fears. 

“It’s like if you order food for delivery, but with us, it’s clothing,” Ceballos said. Customers will try on what she brings them, and Ceballos sometimes brings extra sizes just in case. 

Ceballos told Lookout that a lot of the deliveries are to customers living in Santa Cruz who work in construction, and to farmworkers in Watsonville. “The field workers are the most impacted right now, and not wanting to go outside because of immigration fears,” she said. 

Despite the additional effort she has put into supporting her business, Ceballos doesn’t see business getting better anytime soon, she said. She believes immigration fears will only grow more as enforcement ramps up in the state. “Honestly, I’ll tell you that I think that business is going to be even worse,” Ceballos said. “I think next year will be even worse than it is now.” 

Her husband thinks otherwise. “I think business will go back to normal and people won’t be feeling as scared of immigration,” he told Lookout. 

All the couple can do right now is remain positive and provide the same service they’ve always offered customers, Ceballos said. It’s easy to be mad and depressed at what’s going on because it’s impacting their livelihood, especially when they’ve invested so much time and money into a business, she said. 

“So, I try to help all of my clients with the best attitude and do the best I can despite the decrease in business,” Ceballos said. 

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