Latino businesses take root and blossom in Frederick

Experienced immigrant owners pursue property ownership, expansions in county

Just off Alternate Route 40 on the Golden Mile in Frederick, Metro Market 2 is the first Latino-owned business in Frederick County to secure a loan from the Latino Economic Development Corp. of Wheaton, for an expansion. It will likely be followed by a wave of other immigrant-owned businesses seeking help to expand after securing steady business, say officials of the economic development group.

Metro Market’s owner, Mercedes Chaparro, recently obtained a $30,000 loan from the group to help with the roughly $80,000 startup cost of Don Chicken carryout, because it had a history of successful management. Chaparro took over the store from her sister in 2001 and has doubled its size; Don Chicken restaurant will be her second expansion.

Chaparro’s partner, Khaled Hasna, a Jordanian native who will manage the new restaurant, said the operation will be Frederick County’s first charcoal grill restaurant, a model that he said has proven popular with Montgomery County’s immigrant population.

‘‘A lot of people are waiting for [charcoal grill meals],” Hasna said recently, on his way to the Frederick County Health Department to submit final plans for the kitchen.

Hispanic businesstakes root

Daniel Parra, director of the Latino group’s business program said he anticipates helping more Hispanic and immigrant business owners in Frederick County who prove they are serious about longevity.

‘‘We immigrants are coming from a different environment. It’s so hard to start, but these expansions mean [Chaparro] already has business experience,” Parra said. ‘‘She can separate personal income with business income — that is the kind of business we help.”

In 2003, Frederick County’s Hispanic population was nearly 6,200, or 2.9 percent, compared with roughly 4,700, or 2.3 percent, in 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Of Frederick County’s 18,000 businesses in 2002, 2.2 percent were Latino-owned. Like the Hispanic population, the number of Hispanic-owned businesses in Frederick has been rising swiftly, and now these businesses are settling into locations and thriving.

Chaparro and her husband ran a small market in Peru before moving to Japan for 10 years to escape a tense political climate. In 2001, the couple arrived in Frederick County to purchase Metro Market 2.

‘‘Problems with operating a business in a foreign culture are always there, but you have to resolve them and move forward,” Chaparro said through a translator. ‘‘It hasn’t been that difficult.”

Latinos branching out

The Mid-Atlantic Hispanic Chamber of Commerce spans several counties in the Washington, D.C., area and includes roughly 375 businesses from Frederick County, about 85 percent of which are Hispanic-owned. Jorge Ribas, president of the chamber, believes that number is still small compared with the local market’s potential.

The number of Hispanic-owned businesses in Frederick has increased since the chamber’s founding in 2003 and Ribas estimates the rapid growth will continue for at least 30 years before leveling off. Most of Frederick’s Latino-owned businesses spawned from Montgomery County businesses, and now Frederick businesses are likewise branching into Washington County, Ribas said.

Meanwhile, more Latino business owners in Frederick — from insurance companies and law firms to markets and restaurants — are ready to make long-term commitments and have begun investing in property instead of renting space.

‘‘The Hispanic market is the fastest-growing market in the United States,” Ribas said. ‘‘We have integrated so well. We don’t live separately. We’re everywhere. There’s money to be made.”

Targeting all cultures

With the wave of Hispanic-owned markets that have sprung up in western Frederick City in recent years, Chaparro said each market caters to particular Hispanic cultures and therefore draws a distinct clientele. Roughly 90 percent of Chaparro’s customers are of Hispanic descent, while the rest are non-Hispanics looking for exotic cuisine, she said.

In downtown Frederick, Colombia natives Oscar Munera and his wife, Yaneth Reyes, own Yaneth Jewelry, a jewelry and glass store at 114 N. Market St., that caters to a broader clientele of downtown shoppers. Like Chaparro, they are hoping to expand.

The store’s first year in Frederick in 2005 drew $120,000 in sales, which doubled in 2006. This year, Reyes said she is on track to pull in more than $300,000, selling elegant glass pieces for between $80 and $500, and jewelry pieces for $100 to $20,000.

Reyes recently attended the Latino economic development group’s seminar in Wheaton on ‘‘How to Stay in Business,” to help her open a second-floor Spanish art gallery in the next five years.

‘‘Language barriers are always there, but the most important thing is not to stop growing,” Reyes said through a translator, surrounded by illuminated gems in glass cases in her shop. ‘‘For now, we are doing really well.”