The store is a “great blessing,” said Yuli Marcela Vinces Lopez, one of the entrepreneurs whose products are featured in Immigrant Marché.
Vinces López and her husband, Andrés Felipe Muñoz, cofounded ArtesinA in 2021. The couple from Colombia create paintings and handmade accessories, including rings, bracelets, earrings and bags, using macrame and abstract patterns.
The Immigrant Marché storefront, located at 1218 Arch Street, features handmade earrings, bags, bouquets and artwork from several immigrant-owned small businesses, along with a curated selection of social-justice-centered books from Making Worlds Bookstore. (Emily Neil/WHYY)
They use repurposed and recycled materials, and they donate a portion of their proceeds to an organization that spays and neuters stray cats.
Vinces Lopez said immigrant entrepreneurs face a multitude of challenges.
“The essential one I think is fear, because many times we have ideas, but because of that fear it is hard for us to take the plunge,” she said.
Other barriers for immigrant entrepreneurs include navigating city laws, understanding how the culture works and learning English.
Organizations and initiatives such as The Welcoming Center and Immigrant Marché “help you to have a base to be able to get started,” Vinces Lopez said.
She and her husband benefitted from taking business planning courses with the center, and have gained additional skills and reached new clients through their involvement in Immigrant Marché.
Being a part of the pop-up storefront is “a great help,” she said.
“Being in Immigrant Marché has been very, very interesting for us,” Vinces Lopez said. “It’s a great blessing because it’s giving us tools to know what it’s like to have your product exhibited in a local store.”
The Immigrant Marché storefront, located at 1218 Arch Street, features handmade earrings, bags, bouquets and artwork from several immigrant-owned small businesses, along with a curated selection of social-justice-centered books from Making Worlds Bookstore. (Emily Neil/WHYY)
El Tannir said the center’s programming for immigrant business owners focuses on planning, coaching, lending and innovation.
The goal, she said, is to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses “in a safe, supportive way while also meeting the gap in the market.”
The initiative aims to serve as an incubator, providing a permanent space and ongoing opportunities for a rotating group of entrepreneurs, El Tannir said.
“The key though will be for us to figure out the balance of when it’s time for an entrepreneur to roll out and how we best support them with that,” she said. “And by ‘roll out,’ I don’t mean leave us forever, but to take that next big step for their business.”
The Immigrant Marché storefront also features small and large gift boxes with products from immigrant-owned small businesses in the city that have not participated in The Welcoming Center’s programs, but connected with the initiative after learning about their work.
The Immigrant Marché storefront, located at 1218 Arch Street, features handmade earrings, bags, bouquets and artwork from several immigrant-owned small businesses, along with a curated selection of social-justice-centered books from Making Worlds Bookstore. (Emily Neil/WHYY)
El Tannir said supporting immigrant-owned local businesses has a wider impact on Philadelphia’s economy as a whole.
“When Philadelphians come and support, or outside visitors come and support and purchase these products, it goes back to supporting families in the city, and it gives these entrepreneurs the ability to make their business something that their family can depend on,” she said. “Without having these opportunities to scale, they are likely working full-time jobs, maybe one or two full-time jobs to support their families.”