For many Healdsburg residents, finding comfort food that reminds them of home is easy. But for those who seek art, knickknacks, decorative flowers and more emblematic items which celebrate Latinx culture, Alma’s Oilcloth and Chucherias, established 10 years ago and located on 437 Healdsburg Ave., is the place.
Alma Vigil, from Sebastopol, always wanted to sell Mexican artistry. More so, she wanted a brick and mortar store for people to shop at. After years of attending farmers markets and craft shows, Vigil found her spot in Healdsburg.
“It was just perfect,” Vigil said.
Her family is from the state of Michoacán and Vigil had been exposed to this kind of artistry since she was young. When she traveled with her parents throughout Mexico, she visited Pátzcuaro in Michoacán and the state of Guanajuato. Looking at the painted artistry and celebration of color inspired her. This made her want to bring back a little bit of that to Sonoma County.
“I love the culture. You know, I grew up in a very Mexican family. So we’ve always had this around us and I think we should all try to keep it alive. That’s why I kind of focused on that,” she said.
After college, Vigil attended craft shows and farmers markets where she sold bags and tablecloths made with oilcloth.
“I always, since a little girl, had an idea of opening up my own place,” Vigil said.
When she acquired her store she did not know whether success would come or not. Vigil said she only knew she was doing something she loved and that was all that mattered to her.
“I think people see that when you do something that you love, they respect it, they support it. So it’s been successful I think because of that,” she said.
However, making her dream of having her own storefront come true came with sacrifice and hard work. It brought more responsibilities than just being a vendor at the farmers market.
“With the farmers markets or trade shows, you do them at your convenience. But when you have a storefront, you have to be open, you know, five to six days a week, if not seven,” Vigil said.
During the pandemic, Vigil had to learn how to market her store online to attract clients and keep her sales flowing. Without any expectations, Vigil became an online popular sensation. Her store’s Instagram, Almas Chucherias, has over 56,000 followers. But her rising popularity did not happen quickly. Vigil said she is not the one who handles her social media but her niece helped her create the account and encouraged her to show what she does.
“She’s just like, post everything — how you make things, new products, as much as you can. And so I kind of just did that, you know, when I’m working on something or when I have a new item come in. I posted a little bit about it. And that slowly, started building more followers,” she said.
Vigil never imagined her posts would reach so many people but is has encouraged her to reach even more.
“That makes me want to go further and have more so just continue doing what I’m doing. But never did I ever imagine that I would have that many,” she said.
This also led to more online sales. One of her reasons for focusing on online was because she was forced to close her storefront during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was a big change because I had to go from being open and dealing with the public directly to doing online sales and trying to figure out how to reach more people and get my product out that way to keep the storefront possibly open, so it was a lot more work,” Vigil said.
“I was learning new things like shipping stuff and packaging things. There were a lot of new things that I learned which now I can do both,” she said. Now she focuses both on online and her storefront simultaneously. Vigil has been able to find a balance between the two.
In her ten years in business she has learned multiple lessons, one of the most important being innovative.
“You always have to keep everything fresh and make new products, different products, but keeping the same kind of ideas that you have, because that’s what I am. That’s what most businesses are, they keep that idea, but they just change it a little bit. I’ve learned that it’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it,” she said.
Her most popular items are oilcloth products and her busiest season is Día De Muertos. Vigil creates small and larger altars that are both colorful and creative, an emblem of Mexican culture.
“Because again, it’s like our culture to celebrate the dead and to remember our last family and friends,” Vigil said.
She began creating them 15 years ago and the idea came to her while traveling in Mexico. She would visit the cemetery and create altars for her grandparents. The idea came about to tweak and modify some ideas to create her own.
“Kind of put my own twist on it,” she said.
For Vigil, Mexican culture has always been popular but not necessarily properly represented. She thinks it is now slowly being more appreciated.
“I think it’s a little bit of both. I don’t think that I see it more now. But before, we weren’t represented as much as we are now. And so it’s a combination of our tradition in Mexico, with a contemporary style of, you know, what we’re living now. So the combination of both, I think, really speaks to a lot of people, I just had a girl come in, she’s like, ‘thank you so much, because I see myself here’, like a combination of the both. So I think, you know, it’s been accepted more because these people now see themselves in a lot of the products in the store and they like that, being represented here in Sonoma County,” she said.
Vigil added there have been times where people are afraid of coming into her store thinking she might not speak Spanish. But once they come in and get acquainted, they feel the warmth of both her and her store. Vigil said growing up in Sebastopol there were not as many Mexican families and people did not understand her culture.
“I also liked sharing with them and they appreciated learning,” she said.
Until high school, she was the only Mexican in school. But now Vigil sees a change and she thinks it is a great one.
“We have people from all races come in and it is nice they want to know about our culture,” she said.
Lastly, she encourages anyone to follow their dreams. Even if they might seem unattainable or scary to achieve.
“If anybody has the dream to do this they should go for it. They should do what they love to do. It’ll show through. And to not let anybody say you can’t do it, do it. Do what you love. And if it’s representing your culture, then go for it,” she said.
