Editor’s Note: Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 to acknowledge the contributions of Americans with roots in Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Spain. The mid-month start date coincides with the independence date of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua from Spanish colonial rule. Mexico’s independence day is celebrated Sept. 16.
For more than 20 years, a shop on Washington Street has been a hub for many of the community’s immigrants.
Boutique Angelica, situated in a small shopping plaza at 610 E. Washington St., is directly across from the large, upscale Whole Foods – a tale of two worlds divided by one street.
The narrow driveway leading to Boutique Angelica’s tiny plaza is easy to miss, and the plaza itself is home to numerous small businesses and organizations – a dessert shop, a jewelry and gift store, a multicultural cafe – most with Spanish-language signage for the people they serve.
The hub of this modest commercial cluster is Boutique Angelica, which offers an array of much-needed services to support its clientele of Latinos and immigrants from various countries, according to Norma Hernandez, who co-owns the store with her sister, Ana Hernandez.
“I really enjoy helping my people, honestly,” said Norma Hernandez.
“We try to have everything,” said Ana Hernandez. “Our plan … is to understand the client’s needs.”
What started as a jeweler, check-cashing store and beauty salon in 2001 has evolved into a cross-cultural hub that has served multiple generations. It’s a place where customers are greeted by friendly faces while taking care of important personal business.
Inside the boutique one can find: multiple money order options, check cashing, a beauty salon, international shipping, Spanish-language tax services, jewelry, Colombian girdles, concert ticket sales, party favors and more.
The shop easily has more than 100 customers a day, according to Ana Hernandez. Most of them live in Petaluma, and include immigrants from Mexico, Haiti, El Salvador, the Philippines and Fiji. Others send money to Nepal, India or Italy, she said.
There’s a group of Guatemalan immigrants who come in from Bolinas every other week. But why would they drive over 40 minutes for services that are available closer to home?
“Because we treat them the best, according to them,” Norma Hernandez said with a laugh.
Work becomes play
Norma Hernandez, who pointed out the many Catholic relics given to them as gifts from customers, thanks God first and foremost for the longtime support her business has received.
The shop has lasted decades, and survived the pandemic, because its owners know what their clients want and provide friendly service. That, in turn, has helped them develop deep connections with customers, she said.
“I think that’s part of the success we’ve had – the customer service and the friendliness,” she said.
Moments earlier, she poked her head out of her office at the sound of voices and paused the interview to greet longtime customers who walked in on a sleepy Thursday morning. When they saw her they offered her pan dulce, or sweet bread.
In her back office she has a hot water kettle and stores of instant coffee to offer clients who linger after they change their checks or who just stop in to say hello.
“We joke around a lot with the clients. We play a lot with all our clients. If you come and say, ‘Oh señora, I don’t have enough money,’ (I’ll say) ‘Don’t rush, bring it later,’” she said.
Most of Boutique Angelica’s customers speak a language other than English, and many are low-income, Ana Hernandez said. The sisters’ approach to customer service includes helping customers fill out English-language forms, asking them about their families or inviting them for a cup of coffee.
If a customer who works at a restaurant brings them a plate of food, they’ll give them a discount on services or offer something to eat the next time they come in.
If a customer brings loaves of bread, they’ll share that with other customers, who may return the favor with vegetables or fruit, Norma Hernandez said.
Ana Mejia said she has been coming to Boutique Angelica for over eight years, usually to send money to her family in Mexico, get her hair cut, “and sometimes to talk,” she said with a hearty laugh.
David Siguenza comes from Santa Rosa just to get checks cashed, and said he appreciates the attention he receives each time he walks in.
“They’re very kind,” he said of the employees.
Generations of shops
The sisters give credit to their father, Elias Hernandez, who opened the store in its current location in 2001.
“He worked in the apple orchards. And from there he went to work in the fields, in landscaping, until he started his own businesses,” Ana Hernandez said of her father’s business success.
After he immigrated in the mid-1970s from Michoacán, Mexico, he first started selling jewelry at Sebastopol’s Midgley’s Flea Market. In 1985 he opened his first jewelry store, Joyeria Angelica, on Sebastopol Road in Santa Rosa, Ana Hernandez said.
Clients who used to visit the Santa Rosa jewelry shop still come to the Petaluma store, Norma Hernandez said. He opened another jewelry store in Petaluma in 1991 with the same name, which was the local predecessor to Boutique Angelica.
He also opened a third jewelry store in Ukiah around 1995, and a fourth in Cloverdale in the late 1990s.
Both sisters began working at the Santa Rosa store in the early 1990s, and many of the business practices they use today – welcome everybody warmly, and give what you can to the customer – they learned from their father.
After he decided to retire, the sisters took over the Petaluma location in 2015, Norma Hernandez said. Their father now lives mostly in Mexico, but visits frequently, she said.
Over the years they’ve changed their offerings, selling fancy dresses, Spanish-language movies and cowboy hats and boots.
They say they’re thankful for the business they’ve managed to keep alive and thriving.
“The truth is, I feel like I’m at home because I can greet everyone who comes in by name,” Ana Hernandez said. “We have good contact with the customers.”
You can reach Staff Writer Jennifer Sawhney at 707-521-5346 or jennifer.sawhney@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @sawhney_media.
