Latino Voices

Family-Owned Business Brings Mexico to the Mag Mile


Family-Owned Business Brings Mexico to the Mag Mile

Nestled in Chicago’s ritziest shopping district, Colores Mexicanos offers an experience a world away from its retail neighbors. 

“Everything here has a part of the energy, of the heart and the soul of the people who made it,” said co-owner Erika Espinosa Cruz. 

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Shoppers stepping inside the Michigan Avenue store are swiftly transported from busy urban streets into a vibrant Mexican street market bursting with handcrafted goods. 

“Anything they choose to take home from this store is not just a product,” said co-owner Gabriel Neely-Streit. “In the great majority of cases there are numerous generations behind these particular crafts. People have learned their craft from their grandmothers, their great grandmothers and so forth.” 

Colores Mexicanos got its start five years ago in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood, where sisters Erika Espinosa Cruz and Leti Espinosa along with family friend and business partner Gabriel Neely-Streit began selling Mexican artisan items at neighborhood markets and even in the Espinosa backyard. 

Espinosa Cruz said the business began when her family started collecting artisan items on family trips to Mexico. 

“We started to understand that each community, all across the country, has different kind of works. So we started just buying them for our family collection,” she said. “Then when people came to our house they’d say ‘oh this is very, very beautiful,’ our friends and family, and we started to sell those things to them.” 

The Espinosa sisters and Neely-Streit had built a thriving small business when they learned the city was seeking cultural vendors to set up shop on the Riverwalk. Colores Mexicanos nabbed a coveted spot there last summer, and Espinosa Cruz says the warm response they received inspired them to approach the city with an even more ambitious proposal. 

“During the pandemic, we realized that a lot of spaces here in Michigan Avenue [were] closed,” said Espinosa Cruz. 

With the help of the city’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection and The Magnificent Mile Association, they struck a deal to split the rent on the former Roots Canada space at 605 N. Michigan Avenue through the holiday season. With help from their families, the owners transformed the space in just three days to open in time for Black Friday. 

“When people come into the store, they feel very different vibes. They say all the time that they feel happy and like they are in another place very far away from Chicago,” said Espinosa Cruz. “One of the benefits of this space, because they put these beautiful lights and windows, is we can show more about the diversity of our culture.” 

“It was a chance for a really small business to present itself professionally downtown,” added Neely-Streit.

Though the popup was originally scheduled to end after the holidays, Colores Mexicanos’ success led them to extend their stay. Now, the owners are hoping they can make their Mag Mile home a forever home. 

“We would be so, so happy if this store could stay downtown because especially for Erika and Leti, this is an opportunity to remain connected to their culture,” said Neely-Streit. 

“One of our wishes now is just to continue to share these beautiful things with the world, with our community, and other communities,” said Espinosa Cruz. “We understand that for Michigan Avenue we are very different. We are not the usual store that can be found here. But that is the point — we are more proud now because our culture deserves to be here.”


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