Ventura Couple Imports Mexican Village Art for New Store

Joanna Lopez-Rojas and her husband, Delfino Lopez-Rojas, have an affinity for Mexico.

Their 9-year-old Ventura restaurant, Joannafina’s Mexican Cafe, would be one tip-off, as would be the 500-square-foot Mexican import shop they run next door to the Seaward Avenue eatery.

But if there was any doubt, the Ventura couple’s latest business venture, Un Poquito de Mexico & A Little Bit of California Too, should set things straight once and for all.

The 3,000-square-foot upscale Mexican import operation, which they opened earlier this month at 434 E. Main St. in Ventura, looks as if it had been transported directly from Central Mexico.

Un Poquito is decorated inside and out like an authentic Mexican village. A balcony scene is painted on both sides of the front wall. A thatched roof covers a dressing room made to look like a bamboo hut. The ceiling is painted with blue sky and clouds. Village scenes adorn most of the walls.

An imported bell tower serves as an archway into the store and a Mexican cart sits in the center of the room.

“We wanted the front of the store to look like an old Mexican house,” said Joanna Lopez-Rojas, a Los Angeles native. “Customers say they feel like they are in Mexico.”

Un Poquito is stocked with a variety of hand-made imports including paintings, furniture, pottery, concrete work, dishes, copper art, jewelry, hand-blown glass and clothing, all created by artisans in small villages of Central Mexico.

All the items in the store were found during the couple’s frequent trips to the region, though a large portion was collected in a flurry of activity, they said, over the final two weeks before the store opened July 2.

“We don’t deal with wholesalers,” Joanna Lopez-Rojas said.

“We seek out families or little towns, some places where they don’t even have phones. If we want to order more items, we usually have to go back there.”

The trips are as much pleasure as work for the couple, who own a piece of oceanfront property in the Central Mexican town of La Penita. They said they would ultimately like to split their time between La Penita and Ventura.

“Being in the import business gives us an opportunity to go down there and check on our lot,” said Delfino Lopez-Rojas, a native of Mexico City. “What we want to do is open a business in Mexico. We would have one here and there.”

The Lopez-Rojases said they scouted around for a store location before settling on the Main Street address, the former home of the Discovery Shop, an American Cancer Society thrift store. The couple said they like the burgeoning downtown Ventura area and have high hopes for the future.

“I love the improvements that have been made on Main Street and the city’s emphasis on upgrading, bringing in a movie theater, improving parking, bringing in better businesses,” said Delfino Lopez-Rojas. “I think it’s going to get better and better.”

Audrey Gaffney, owner of Atelier de Chocolat, a European chocolate shop located two doors from Un Poquito, said the new shop is an example of the kind of businesses downtown merchants would like to attract.

“We’re looking for upscale stores that lend a flavor to our neighborhood,” Gaffney said. “We are very pleased to have them as our neighbor. We’re definitely looking for a variety of unique shops.”