Originally from Queretaro Mexico, my family and I settled in Lawrence, KS to raise our family and start our new lives. From the moment we moved, we began to fall in love with our new community. But we quickly realized what Lawrence was missing: a localized space that can deliver Hispanic products to the large and growing Hispanic population of Lawrence. Many of our new friends were driving to other cities to buy the Hispanic products they had grown up loving - from homemade tortillas to bimbos and marinelas. These types of products were not available in Lawrence. And that's when my wife and I decided to open Estrella Mexicana, a one-stop shop filled with the foods and supplies that our Hispanic community was searching for. But like any story, ours was not without struggle. Because we were brand new and still very small, we had great trouble finding distributors willing to supply us with the Hispanic goods at an affordable rate. We knew that if we bought these marked up supplies, we would then have to raise prices even higher for our customers. But because our goal was to meet the need of the local Hispanic community, we knew that we had to find another way. Together, my wife and I worked tirelessly to contact distributors, make connections with other Hispanic markets and build that would eventually allow you to buy the merchandise at a low and affordable rate. We could then provide those goods to our community for those same low and affordable costs - making Mexican Star an essential shopping spot for many of our Lawrencian peers. Because of our growing following, we have been able to expand our market and supplies, offering seasonal and specialty items, like summer snow cones in traditional Mexican flavors, homemade bread and tortillas and even a large collection of specialty selection of meat. But through the relationships with our Hispanic community, we learned that we needed to expand our services in other ways - such as providing money transfer or international calling cards - to continue to provide support for products that are not available for the community sees it. La Estrella is a reflection of the needs of the Hispanic community in Lawrence. We are blessed to have such an incredibly devoted family, friends and customers and we are thankful for the opportunity to grow our family owned shop into a landmark support in Lawrence