Immigrant-owned small businesses take center stage at pop-up storefront in Philadelphia's Market East

A Philadelphia nonprofit celebrated the opening of a special pop-up space for immigrant-owned small businesses on Wednesday afternoon. 

"Immigrant Marché is a new entity that we've created at the Welcoming Center to give a platform to immigrant entrepreneurs that are already in business, to give them more of an opportunity," said Anuj Gupta, president of The Welcoming Center, a Philly-based nonprofit focused on welcoming immigrants as neighbors and leaders.

Most of the immigrant businesses in the storefront in Market East happen to be owned by women, and everyone has a story to share. 

Natalia Cardona Sanchez from Guatemala makes tropical jams with Latin American and Caribbean flavors.

"The taste of sunshine. All of my jams, if you've been to the Caribbean or if you've been to Latin America or even if you just stay here in the U.S. and you have a really good tropical jam in Florida, for example, or Hawaii, or Puerto Rico, you are going to think back to those memories," she said.

Araceli Cruz, who's from Mexico, sells handmade jewelry and ceramics.

"Some of them, they're from my mother's town, so it's significant ... to me. It means I can see my mom next to me," Cruz said.  

It's virtually impossible to tell the story of America without the profound impact of immigrants, which is on full display at the pop-up.

"This is America. It's people from all walks of life, from places all over the globe, that are coming here in pursuit of something better," Gupta said.

"As far as I'm concerned, immigrants were a big foundation of this country, a big part of our history, and that should be acknowledged and celebrated along with the larger celebrations," Cardona Sanchez said.

The pop-up at 1111 Ludlow Street runs through the end of July.

"It is really important because they accept us. USA is made of immigrants, and being here is a huge, huge blessing," Cruz said.