Yvette Ramirez, a third-generation vendor and president of the Farmer’s Market Tenant Association, inside her store in El Mercado at Historic Market Square.As children, they watched their grandparents sell produce out of puestos, or stalls, under the metal roof of Haymarket Plaza, an open-air produce market at Historic Market Square.
“We’ve been here for 50-plus years, so I’d hope it’d keep going,” Douglas said. “We’re just kind of in a little hiccup with all this construction going on.”to renovate the market sidewalks has affected business lately, but construction is slated for completion near the end of 2025. Along with the original vendors, the Cortez family, which owns Mi Tierra, has been instrumental in preserving Market Square’s authenticity.Brenda Bazán / San Antonio Report
The original businesses, managed by the family’s second and third generations, have kept their highly competitive and hard-to-get puestos because they have the same entrepreneurial dream as their parents and their grandparents. Jaime Herrejon, 67, co-owner of Little Mexico Imports, watched his father sell produce at the Haymarket Plaza from 1962 to 1966, when the family added Mexican arts and crafts like bean pots and drinking vessels to their wares.
He chose the same path as an adult, when he declined a scholarship to go to college, instead choosing to take over the family’s puesto. Herrejon said he doesn’t regret it because it provided for his family and then some, which is all he asked for.