Super Compras

Acela grew up helping her parents run a grocery store in Joquicingo, a little town in the heart of Mexico. “They taught me the importance of paying attention to the client, and how to offer good service to all people in the same way,” she says.

One of her cousins lived in California, and often invited her to visit the United States. Drawn by better opportunities to make a living, she moved to Hendersonville in 1997. Acela worked as a translator for groups that assisted Hispanic immigrants as they adjusted to their new lives in the United States.

As she became involved in the local community, Acela decided she wanted to open up a store of her own. “I wanted to give the (Latino) people what they needed,” she says.

When the opportunity to buy a convenience store presented itself in March 2005, Acela took the advice of a friend and turned to Self-Help for a $6,000 Small Business Administration microloan.

“She needed money for working capital but didn’t qualify for a loan from a conventional lender,” says Jane Hatley, a Self-Help commercial loan officer. Since Acela hadn’t been in the country long enough to establish formal credit, she couldn’t demonstrate a proven financial track record by most traditional standards.

But Jane was able to use Acela’s references and recent payment documentation in lieu of an official credit history. “A lot of people in the community knew her,” Jane says. “She had stellar references.”

The first year of business went by smoothly. Acela’s niche was offering an array of products especially for the local Hispanic community. Acela says she enjoyed building relationships, helping the clients of Super Compras, and being her own boss.

Acela was clearly meeting a need in the community, and business was good. “She never missed a payment,” Jane says.

But the following spring, while Acela was back in Mexico to visit the family doctor, the store was held up. The robbers stole $7,000 in cash, $600 in checks, and a car.

Acela was devastated, but able to bounce back. Her great payment history from the first loan qualified her for a $10,150 Self-Help loan in May 2006.

“She lost so much of the money that she had worked so hard to earn,” Jane says of the robbery. “(The second loan) provided more working capital to keep distributors paid and the store alive.”

Acela also purchased new security cameras, hired additional staff for evening hours, and instituted better money handling techniques. She says she now feels safe.

Acela continues to meet the unique needs of Hendersonville’s Hispanic community with innovative products. She is adding a new service to Super Compras – “una packeteria.” Super Compras is the only store in Hendersonville that offers the services of Medrano Express, a company that specializes in package shipments to Central America. With the newly built package area, Acela will be able to handle more shipments and better serve her customers.

Acela’s little store is cozy, its shelves overflowing with everything from country flags to exotic spices, from soccer hats to leather boots, from bright piñatas to Spanish CDs, from Latin American snack cakes to tropical juices. All of the products of Super Compras help carry out Acela’s mission, which is to enhance the quality of life of her clients, she says. “I try to provide the people with the things they need to relate to each other.”