The store was opened out of a desire for easier access to items needed to prepare traditional Mexican food at home.
“We’re Mexicans and we have to drive to Columbus or Dayton to get whatever we need. I’ve lived here almost 10 years, so we decided to try this idea,” he said.
Munoz and his family are from the Jalisco/Guadalajara region in Mexico.
Munoz and his two business partners expected to open a few months ago, but transforming the former Advanced Auto Parts store into a grocery and restaurant took some doing.
“This is very different than running a restaurant. ...We planned to open four or five months ago, but ... it took longer than we thought,” he said. The delay came in part because the owners discovered some difficulties with the gas line when they were building out the restaurant and kitchen area.
Now, everything is ready to go.
“We were not in a hurry. We wanted to do it right,” Munoz said.
The store officially opened Saturday, Dec. 19.
Mi Tierra is a full-service grocery store with Mexican and American grocery items, produce, dairy, frozen foods, a meat counter and a butcher.
It wasn’t easy to find distributors and suppliers for some of the traditional Mexican items he was looking for, so Munoz ended up as far away as Chicago to secure some of his inventory.
“Since we’re on the route from Chicago to Columbus, I was able to convince some distributors to stop in Springfield,” he said.
Those relationships have yielded imported items such as arbol, ancho and pasilla chiles, hot sauces, salsas and Jarritos sodas. Spices — many available for under $3 — include whole cumin, star anise and dried lemongrass.
Munoz and his partners have stocked the store with a wide array of items to appeal to an audience beyond the Hispanic population he said.
The idea was to provide necessary options to not only Mexican shoppers, but also to neighborhood residents or anyone passing by who might need a gallon of milk or some bread, he said.
The name was chosen with that philosophy in mind. “Mi Tierra means ‘my land’ or ‘my country,’ ” Munoz said, “and we decided to put it that way because we didn’t want it to be specific. We want it to be a place for everybody.”
There is a growing Hispanic audience in Clark County for Mi Tierra. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Clark County’s population has declined by almost 5,000 since 2000. The Hispanic population, however, is increasing. In the 2000 census, 1.2 percent of the county’s residents were Hispanic, but as of 2008, that number was estimated at 1.8 percent.
A section of the space is a family-style Mexican restaurant that will serve food most local residents have never eaten, Munoz said.
“The food is going to be different — it won’t be like what’s served at El Toro. This will be like homemade food,” he said.
Menu items regularly available will include:
• Tortas, the Mexican version of a submarine sandwich.
• Mexican Coca-Cola, made with cane sugar.
• Breakfast.
• Chilaques, corn tortilla pieces that are fried, cooked in salsa or another sauce and often sprinkled with cheese.
• Tacos, made in the traditional Mexican way with tortillas cooked on top of the meat.
• Burritos, made in the West Coast style, with large tortillas and everything inside.
Most items can be ordered as build-your-own items, Munoz said. Customers can choose meats, toppings and sauces in their favorite combinations with any of the restaurant’s four or five homemade sauces, he added.
“For us, the restaurant part is very easy. The grocery part is harder, but we know how to treat people,” Munoz said. “We’ve been in the restaurant business more than 20 years. What we know for sure is how to maintain cleanliness and keep people happy.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0371 or elroberts@coxohio.com.
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