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Juan Paredes Amazones Western Wear “Ten years ago, you found no honest commerce on this street after 6 pm. Now you have nightlife and a market for fashion. Property values are high on Lake Street and will go higher, a challenge for many of us, especially considering two years of roadwork. But these are the growing pains. They come from success and are better to have than the crime and very lean days of the past when many people were afraid to come here. I have high hopes not only for my business but the future of Latino enterprise on Lake Street.” Amazones is among the handful of Lake Street retailers bringing the wave of Norteño fashion to eager customers in the Twin Cities. Cowboy hats, boots and other articles found in this boutique are on view late into the night in the area’s new Latino clubs. Owner Juan Paredes, a native of Ecuador, was among the very first Latinos to open a business on Lake Street in the mid-1990s. After Mercado Central moved the focal point of Latino commerce from 4th and Lake to Bloomington and Lake, Paredes moved with the times, locating on the retail floor of Plaza Verde. He knows his customers are growing affluent enough to afford premium items running into the hundreds of dollars, but that they will chase a value wherever they can find it. With more businesses coming in, competition is heating up, he says.
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in business
