SPECIAL ISSUE: SMALL BUSINESSHispanic businesses redefine Princeton’s downtown
Jennifer Potash, Staff Writer
A frequent knock on Princeton’s retail scene is that there’s a demise of mom-and-pop businesses.
But a group of such small businesses owned and operated by Hispanics have cropped up — and grown — in the borough and township for more than a decade. The businesses include restaurants, grocery stores, a travel business and a new hair salon.
Princeton very much is in the thick of state and national trends that show a strong growth of small business and a burgeoning increase in the Hispanic population.
In the John-Witherspoon neighborhood, which is bounded by John and Witherspoon streets, the population includes a mix of blacks, whites and Hispanics.
Many of these businesses are the embodiment of the American Dream — the real-life stories of individuals who emigrated to the United States, found work and then earned enough capital to become entrepreneurs or small business owners.
One such emigrant was Piedad Mendez, who left Ecuador as a teenager and moved from New York to Trenton before settling in Lawrence.
She worked for a number of salons before opening up her own business, Alexandra’s — her middle name — on Leigh Avenue, on Jan. 31. The unisex hair salon will help fill a need for Hispanics in the Princeton area, she said.
"(Women) had to go to Trenton or New Brunswick to have their hair cut," she said. "I thought it would be better for them not to have to travel. I think this is going be good."No Surprise
The rise of businesses such as Mendez’s should come as no surprise.
According to the 2000 U.S. Census numbers, the Hispanic population in Princeton Borough has seen a 64 percent increase since 1990, while in West Windsor and Montgomery, the Hispanic population has risen by 109 percent and 99.5 percent, respectively.
Nationally, the U.S. Census Bureau reports, the number of Hispanic residents has soared from 22.4 million in 1990 to 35.3 million in 2000. Census officials say that sharp increase is the result of rises in both legal and illegal immigration and improved counting methods by census takers.
Daniel H. Jara, president and CEO of the Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which is based in Jersey City, said business ownership by Hispanics in the state has increased by 84 percent in the last decade. There are more than 47,000 Hispanic-owned businesses — from bodegas to manufacturing plants — in New Jersey, he said. "It is remarkable," he said.
These businesses provide a boost to the overall economy by generating more than $7.5 billion in sales and creating more than 145,000 jobs, Mr. Jara said.
Their long-term viability, like that of any other kind of business, is mixed. Some businesses have not succeeded, and some have found success only under different owners.
A clothing store in Princeton called El Buen Gusto run by Honduran immigrant Trinidad Lara opened in 1998, but ended up closing a few years later. In its place went La Mexicana Grocery and Fruits on Witherspoon Street, which offers fresh produce, milk, juice and dry and canned goods.
Similarly, the restaurant next door to La Mexicana has also undergone a few different versions.
For many years the eatery was called Edy’s Place, owned by Edy Moshey of Princeton Township. Ms. Moshey closed the business in January 2003. After a short time, it reopened under new management as Alicia’s.
Alicia’s, which offers take-out service and eat-in at a table bar and stools, built up a solid reputation in the community, said owner Mercedes Castro, a Lawrence resident who recently purchased the business.
Dream come true
Speaking as the aroma of freshly cut limes and chopped tomatoes wafts from the kitchen, the Guatemala native said that running a restaurant of her own is a dream come true.
"I wanted a place of my own, and this opportunity came along," she said. Ms. Castro worked for 16 years as a cook at the Ivy Club on Prospect Avenue, which is a private membership club for Princeton University students.
Alicia’s will keep its Mexican entrees, and Ms. Castro said she will add some Guatemalan dishes as well.
A cornerstone of the Hispanic business community is Witherspoon Street-based Pelusa Travel, owned by Raul and Rosa Calvimontes, who are immigrants from Mexico.
When the business opened in 1998 as a bilingual travel agency, it was one of a few Hispanic businesses.
Mr. Calvimontes was employed for seven years as a custodial supervisor, and his wife had worked for several years at a Long Branch travel agency. A suggestion by a friend that Princeton’s Hispanic community would be a perfect market for their proposed bilingual travel agency prompted the couple to take a closer look.
In the nearly seven years of Pelusa Travel’s operation, the business — an affectionate nod to a nickname for their daughter Pamela — has expanded beyond travel services.
The wall behind the counter is filled with long-distance phone cards and pay-as-you-go cellular phones. A rack of DVDs and music CDs line another wall near a swivel stand filled with Spanish greeting cards. A display case holds religious-themed items, Spanish-to-English dictionaries and English-as-a-second-language lesson tapes.
He acts as a liaison between the newly arrived immigrants and municipal officials. He also has organized cultural programs, such as a posada party held at The Arts Council of Princeton.
Now he is offering an income-tax-preparation service to customers.
"It’s been so crazy," he said as a stream of customer came in for new phone cards or to fill out forms.
Still other businesses have attracted a clientele beyond the local Hispanic population.
Visit Taste of Mexico in the Princeton Shopping Center during lunch or dinner and there will be business people in suits enjoying quesadillas and sitting side-by-side with an Hispanic landscaping company employee having a meal of tostadas.
Its owner, Fillipe Cruz, immigrated to Princeton from Oaxaca, Mexico, in the early ’90s and found a kitchen job with the Olive Garden on Route 1.
In 1995, he brought with him to Princeton the regional recipes he grew up with. He then opened up his restaurant.
He has been able to expand the offerings at the restaurant to include special weekend menus with entrees like tamales and posole, which is a creamy corn and chicken soup topped with mole sauce, and Mexican beef stew.
La Mexicana sells a cornucopia of Latin American culinary items as well as bins of fresh produce. The refrigerated cases have milk, juice, eggs, butter and cheese. Another small grocery store is La Lupita on Leigh Avenue.
A major presence
What’s clear is that Hispanic businesses have become a major presence on the Witherspoon streetscape. What’s uncertain is how those businesses will fit into a changing neighborhood.
Already, the neighborhood has undergone some redevelopment, with a rundown rooming house demolished in favor of townhouses that sold in the $600,000 range. A former nursing home on Quarry Street was converted into luxury flats with some affordable units. And The Arts Council of Princeton last year gained approval for a major expansion of its site at the corner of Witherspoon Street and Paul Robeson Place.
A bigger unknown tossed into the mix is how the University Medical Center at Princeton site will be rezoned. Princeton HealthCare System, which owns the 12-acre parcel, plans to construct a new hospital off of Route 1 in the next five years.
Princeton Borough Mayor Joseph O’Neill said the socioeconomic status of the neighborhood’s residents largely determine the type of businesses that develop.
As Witherspoon Street, between Green Street and Leigh Avenue, has developed a wonderful and lively mix of business, it’s possible sections might benefit from a Special Improvement District designation, the mayor said.
Princeton Future, the nonprofit citizens organization that is studying future development possibilities along Witherspoon Street, will discuss just that a public session on the group’s preliminary findings at 7 p.m. Feb. 16 at the Princeton Public Library.
Princeton Future leaders said the evening session was set up to attract the business owners on the street who haven’t been able to attend the group’s previously scheduled sessions, which generally take place on Saturday mornings.

