LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — (Eds. note: Para ver esta historia en Español, clic aqui).
The pandemic brought on a lot of challenges, especially for businesses.
Bouncing back wasn't easy. Some had to close their doors in popular areas like the River Market, which is a popular place for the capital city.
“The River Market area is part of our core tourism product,” said Gina Gemberling President and CEO of the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Gemberling is constantly looking for ways to enhance people’s experience.
“We'd love to have new businesses join the River Market district area,” she explained.
A new business has now moved into a spot at the River Market that had been sitting vacant for almost a year along President Clinton Avenue. The business is a Mexican restaurant.
“Here we are going to offer everything fresh,” said owner of the restaurant Juan Carlos Valadez. "We want people to feel content and feel like family."
Owners Veronica Mayorga and Juan Carlos Valadez both own separate Mexican restaurants in Central Arkansas and wanted to team up to start something new.
"More than anything we wanted to offer something different. We wanted to team up together to have ideas and form a good menu for our customers," he explained.
Mayorga and Valadez agreed that being in the River Market is a big opportunity.
"We saw the opportunity to open here, we want people to see a place they want to visit," said Valadez.
More than anything they explained that they're happy to bring another Mexican-owned business downtown.
"It brings us pride that we as Hispanics are contributing to this city," said Mayorga.