A little touch of home

Mi Carniceria owners open new location — and find a bigger response than they expected

MOSES LAKE — Working behind the meat counter makes Agustin Alanis feel like he's back in his hometown.

"I like to talk with people," he said. "I like to be behind the counter and I like to kid with people and kid around with them."

Agustin said his manner, and the way that the meat is cut, is reminiscent of the way they do it in Mexico. If it's not exactly the old way, he can sure try, he said.

"It reminds me of my hometown, of home cooking," he said.

Which is precisely the feel that Alanis and his wife Blanca are going for with their business, Mi Carniceria.

With a store located in Othello for six and a half years, the Alanises opened a second location, at 723 W. Third Ave. in Moses Lake on Dec. 18.

"We didn't realize how much clientele we had in Moses Lake," Blanca said. The Othello business would receive periodic requests from people to open a store in Moses Lake, who know the business for its meat. The Alanises finally gave it some thought, after unsuccessfully persuading a relative to open one. "In doing so, as we started letting people know, we realized how many clients we had from up here, because everyone was like 'I can't wait until you guys open.'"

Blanca said that she and her husband got scared by all the response, since the Othello store is the main store. As the opening drew closer, the business was receiving daily calls inquiring about the Moses Lake store.

Business at the original location typically slows down during the winter.

"We are doing a little bit better (in Moses Lake) than we expected to to begin with, but that's because of the clientele that we didn't know that we had from this area," she said. "Which is good and bad, because it kind of scares us for over there (in Othello)."

"It's better than what we had anticipated," Agustin said. "The community has been really good."

Agustin had been a foreman for a ranch for 17 years. After a month of unemployment, he began volunteering at a meat shop for a friend. The friend suggested that he go into his own business.

"I like what I'm doing," Agustin said. "I see the potential, and then after I started working there, I see the need for the people. You go to the stores and you ask them to cut a certain way, and they will not, basically with the barrier of the language … It's something people will always be in need for."

"We went out on a very thin limb," Blanca said of starting up the original Mi Carniceria (which translates to "My Meat Shop"). The couple rented out some space in a bakery, until business began to turn around 18 months later. Once they were able to have a whole building, she said, the business really took off.

"We started only with meat," she said. After buying the location, there was empty space, so a friend that had been working with the Alanises continued with the bakery, and the business license was upgraded to include groceries.

"It wasn't planned," Blanca said. "It was just God's hand, I think."

Agustin said that the Moses Lake location did not originally plan for a vegetable case, but in response to demand, they are looking at a way to include one.

Originally, the Alanises planned to target monolingual Mexicans who don't have freezers and are used to going for their bread daily, Blanca said. By around about the second year, they found that their customer base had expanded.

"We have a lot of Hispanic (customers), but we also have a lot of Caucasian (customers)," she said. "I don't think we're limited. We did start off with that target, but we carry a lot of regular products."

The two stores are currently rotating about 20 employees, most of which work part-time, Blanca said. While many only speak one language, she said, they always have someone who is bilingual on staff.

The store specializes in Mexican cuts, by which Blanca means meat cut a little thinner and utilizing different seasonings. It also carries Mexican bread and a variety of Mexican products.

The surprise Moses Lake clientele is not just coming in, Blanca said, they are bringing in friends.

"We had a lady come in from Quincy who said, 'Every time I'd go over there (to Othello), I always had to take five or six orders. Now, I just tell them you guys are here.'" she said. "So that's positive."

Blanca thinks that part of the new location's success has been that it's not exactly in a side of town where other grocery stores are nearby. Vendors are also telling her that they are happy to see the store in its area of Moses Lake, she said.

The store is presently open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Those are winter hours, Blanca said, and the store will have longer hours in warmer seasons.