Latin-owned shops rack up the sales

Home to a handful of popular Cuban restaurants, Columbus Drive is a Latin food lover's dream. It even affectionately was dubbed Boliche Boulevard by Tampa Tribune columnist Steve Otto.

As the restaurants serve marinated pork and black beans and rice, the fashion industry has moved into shopping centers and storefronts, making a splash with mannequins adorned in trendy attire and placed outside to attract passers-by.

There are five clothing stores on Columbus between Habana and Himes avenues.

Yovany Diaz, owner of Jeni Dollar Discount, 2917 W. Columbus Drive, said four years ago there were just two clothing stores.

"They see that one retailer prospers and they want to advance as well," said Diaz, 32, who runs the store with his wife.

Although store sizes vary, the merchandise for men and women are similar, consisting of jeans, blouses, shirts, shoes, undergarments and accessories such as sunglasses, belts and designer baseball caps.

The clothes have an urban, flamboyant and tropical style.

One store sells a sleeveless, plaid, button-down shirt along with the traditional, formal guayabera shirt. At all the stores, most shirts have a design or radical drawing made popular by Ed Hardy.

They also sell casual shoes in earth tones and dynamic shoes that are multicolored for men and feature high heels for women.

All the stores are owned by Cuban nationals who came to Tampa in recent years.

Giraldo Remedios opened Lindsey Fashion, 3303 W. Columbus Drive, last month. He opened a clothing store a few blocks away in December but sold the business to his brother to acquire a larger store that was more centrally located, he said.

Remedios said he saw an opportunity with the election of President Barack Obama in November. He guessed the new president would ease restrictions between Cuba and the United States. Indeed, Obama is allowing Cuban Americans more chances to visit relatives in the island nation.

Cuban-American patrons come to his business to buy clothes for their relatives, Remedios said.

"When a Cuban travels to Cuba, he doesn't go empty-handed," said Remedios, who studied accounting and finance in Cuba.

They also come for the type of fashions he offers, Remedios said. Many Cubans favor a casual style, he said, but they prefer it draws attention.

Remedios, who has lived in Tampa 10 years, said he worked in factories and observed the workings of clothing stores before opening his own.

He isn't fluent in English but counts some non-Spanish-speaking Americans as customers along with Mexicans and Central and South Americans.

Enter Diavelis Vidal's Orquidia Shoes at the corner of Columbus Drive and MacDill Avenue and the music is pumping with a disc jockey concert video on a flat-screen television.

She opened her store nearly two years ago and named it after her best friend, who still lives in Cuba.

It first was a shoe and accessory store, but she expanded to sell clothes as well. Vidal, 32, moved to Tampa four years ago from Miami to rehabilitate Persian rugs.

A former accountant for restaurants in Havana, Vidal said she wanted to own her own business and reap the benefits of working on her own terms. She wanted to break the cycle of working for others, she said.

She chose retail clothing because the business is comparatively easy to manage and has little overhead. She rents space, orders merchandise and works on her own.

"The sacrifice is great, but it's your own sacrifice," Vidal said. "You are doing it for your own benefit. Someone else isn't benefitting from your work."

Al Frederick, vice president of the newly formed Tampa Latin Chamber of Commerce, said Columbus Drive historically has been a commercial district for Cubans.

Armenia Avenue is populated with Colombian and Ecuadorian businesses, and Waters Avenue has Venezuelan businesses, he said.

"I guess they tend to bunch together with their paisanos," Frederick said.

Frederick said the recession might be forcing immigrants to look for new business opportunities.

But, he said, immigrants often start businesses with products not readily available at mainstream stores.

Also, immigrants often aren't overwhelmed by a fear of failure because they know what it's like to lose everything, as many did upon leaving their country of origin, he said.

"It's human nature," Frederick said. "Once you have been displaced from somewhere, you still want to get ahead."

Belkis Luna came to Tampa 14 years ago and didn't envision running a business. She was an intensive care nurse in Cuba.

Once she was stateside she worked in sales and found she had an ease and talent for the profession. Two months ago she started running Annie's Little Boutique, located next to the Florida Bakery, 3320 W. Columbus Drive.

Her husband bought the business, which aligns with her interest in fashion, retail clothing and beauty, she said.

"Latinos like to dress very well," Luna said. "Latinos are very ostentatious. They don't like to find someone wearing the same clothes at the next corner."

Raised in a communist system that frowned on free enterprise, Luna said the experience serves as a motivation to work hard and to take advantage of lost time.

"After years of oppression under our Cuban system, here we're free," she said. "We can develop ourselves as business owners."