After 19 years in business, La Barca Guerrero has upgraded its storefront, moving to a much larger facility just feet away from its old location.
The tienda officially moved into their new location at 8125 SW Nyberg St. in May. They were previously located on the other side of the same building, next to Lee’s Kitchen.
“The other one was so crowded, I think the capacity was like eight people,” Cindy Farfan told Tualatin Life about the store’s old address.
Farfan, daughter of store owners Belen Hernandez and Juvenal Farfan, said that the couple moved into the space after the Izumi Japanese Steakhouse closed permanently. Teppanyaki tables still line a section of the inside, and Farfan said the new space felt like the right choice after spending nearly 20 years working out of 800 square feet.
“We moved into this location two months ago and I think it was just time,” Farfan said. “What we have now is just more space to walk around. It is just easier to get organized; there’s more structure.”
The store is filled with a large assortment of baked goods, freshly sliced fruit, Mexican sodas, pharmaceuticals and merchandise. Strands of papel picado (colorful perforated paper decorations) hung down over the tops of tall shelves crammed with cans of condensed milk and bags of corn tortillas. Frozen meals and cold drinks are kept in refrigerators spaced out around the large room, and a colorful corner of handbags, jewelry and quilt blankets awaits customers on their immediate left after they enter.
Farfan made it clear that the store is not the same as a restaurant or a taqueria, and they offer a wide variety of products besides food and groceries, also preparing menu items like tortas, quesadillas, freshly squeezed juices and chamoyadas (a sweet, salty, and spicy Mexican frozen slushie drink) behind the counter.
“You can’t even consider it like a taqueria,” Farfan said. “The only thing that we make that would be within a taqueria would be the tortas, which we’ve made for a long time, or a quesadilla, but everything else is just snacks.”
In addition to cooking food, La Barca Guerrero also provides an assortment of baked goods, with Farfan telling Tualatin Life that the new store is equipped with a “baking section” where shop owners sell pastries made in-house.
“We have, kind of like, a bakery section. Some of the stuff we continue to bring in, but the other items we have made in-house,” Farfan said.
Farfan said that before owning La Barca Guerrero, her parents were already involved in business and recounted how, when she grew up, she had a hard time keeping track of each of their business ventures.
“I remember being like four years old, and they used to have like a shoe business, I thought, and I would help set up the shoes,” Farfan said. “So they’ve had businesses most of my life and prior to that, and I think it was an opportunity that presented itself.”
Farfan said that she and her younger sister both help out around the store, with her parents still running operations on a day-to-day basis.
“I have two younger siblings, but I’m mainly the one in charge of the day-to-day stuff,” Farfan said.
The spacious new location had already garnered good reviews from its dedicated group of shop regulars as well as curious newcomers, according to Farfan.
“We have a comment jar,” Farfan told Tualatin Life. “And that first week there was just constantly stuff like, ‘We love the new space!’ and people talking about the space to walk around…We’ve seen a lot of new customers just wandering in. Just kind of curious to see what we’re about.”
La Barca Guerrero is open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays and 12:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.
“We’re here to serve our community, that’s everybody in the neighboring cities and Tualatin itself,” Farfan said. “We serve the Hispanic community with these products, but if somebody suggested something, we’d make an effort to bring it in.”
