A Guide to Latino-owned Shops & Boutiques in Greater Philadelphia

This shop specializes in handmade bespoke items for the home, body and mind.

Colombian shop owner and jewelry maker Linda Smyth (also of We Who Prey in New York) encourages conscious shopping and personalized style creations with textile designs, clothing, jewelry, artwork, apothecary and more.

Casa Vida hosts ongoing events and artist curations featuring vintage treasures and new indie designers.

You might hear music from down the street before you even see the muraled storefront along Lehigh Avenue, thanks to exterior speakers piping out various genres of Latin music.

Take a step inside Centro Musical, an institution for nearly 70 years, and explore a plethora of instruments (for Latin music and beyond), plus records and CDs, gifts, novelties and specialty items, many from Puerto Rico.

If you’re lucky, you’ll catch a stellar in-store performance or impromptu jam.

This uber-colorful Italian Market boutique is both a chocolate shop and a destination for exploring Mexican culture through its traditional arts and crafts.

Inside ChocoArte is an impressive array of handcrafted items from Mexico, including pottery, masks, decorations, textiles and statement attire in every color imaginable, as well as a ton of items for your Día de Los Muertos altar.

Owner Louis Quiles brings touches of his Puerto Rico-meets-Philly heritage through coffee, clothing and sneakers at his Fishtown shop, Encanto Kicks & Coffee.

The vibrant and colorful shop has a curated inventory of high-end sneaker releases and apparel brands, and regularly hosts events with artists and musicians.

Born in Ecuador, Mike Andino started performing salsa in 2001 and in 2004 became a founding member of Art in Motion Latin Dancers. For nearly 20 years, Andino has taught private and group lessons in salsa, cha-cha-cha, mambo and bachata. Outside of the Fishtown studio, Estilo Dance Studio hosts all-level group dance classes at Bok Bar, Brasil’s Nightclub, Triple Bottle Brewing, Liberty Point and other venues.

There’s no such thing as too hot for spicyphile fans of Kensington’s FAIYA hot sauce company.

Founded by Radhi and Mónica Fernández as a pandemic project, FAIYA’s organic hot sauces can now be found at farmers’ markets, cafes and shops throughout the region and in their online shop. The colorful line of small-batch sauces includes flavors like the mango, spiced whiskey and maple syrup Mama Juana; the blueberry jalapeño Purple Flame; and the mango habanero What the Fuego.

Hear more from Fernandez on season 3, episode 19 of our Love + Grit podcast.

A deep-rooted community art center that aims to promote Puerto Rican culture and Latino arts, Taller Puertorriqueño offers arts education programs, author events and art exhibitions at its West Kensington museum space.

Inside Taller is Julia de Burgos Bookstore — the only Spanish/English bilingual specialty bookshop in Philadelphia — which specializes in works by Latino authors and books about Latin America and social justice. The shop also sells art and gifts (jewelry, tote bags, candles) handcrafted by Latino artists and artisans, with plenty of local representation.

Founded in 2012 by then-Temple University undergrads Gabriela Sanchez and Erlina Ortiz, Power Street Theater has become a vital collective of multidisciplinary artists and activists serving Philadelphia’s Latino community.

With a mission to create meaningful change in the theater world and within multicultural communities and preserve cultural stories, the organization offers community-driven live theater shows, professional-led classes and workshops, open mics, and reading series around the city.

Tickets to shows, festivals and a branded merch line are available online.

Project Capoeira started in 2001 and celebrates the culture and traditions of Brazil.

Led by Afro-Brazilian social educator Adenilson Dos Santos, the organization serves 15,000 individuals annually with year-round performances, workshops and all-ages ASCAB Capoeira classes. Think: samba, forró, pagode, capoeira and samba-reggae.

Their Brazilian Day Philadelphia Series — an annual festival featuring a flag ceremony, martial arts, music, dance, and acrobatic performances — is the largest Brazilian cultural celebration in Pennsylvania.

One of Philly’s largest game cafes occupies a three-story location on South Street with plenty of features and food and drink offerings.

The fantasy-style tavern features two dedicated bars, outdoor seating, a massive board game library with 2,000-plus titles, and a brand-new retro video game arcade.

Bonus: Queen & Rook host after-school programs (including camps) for the young ones.

Dominican wellness entrepreneur Cristina Espaillat has expanded her NoLibs yoga, dance and pilates studio into a team of mostly women instructors. In-person and virtual classes are offered daily, including private and group classes ranging from gentle movements to advanced ballet sequences.

In addition to movement and sculpting classes, there are also aromatherapy and meditation sessions that tap into physical and mental energy for balanced results in both body and mind. All levels and ages are welcome.

Based at Penn’s Landing, Sea Philly — a private picnic boat offering intimate excursions on the Delaware River — is led by a small team of Latina women.

Experiences include multi-hour luxury charters (for up to six people), private dock events and specialty cruises on boats originally built in the 1950s and 1960s.

The Argonaut, founder Georgette Luna’s 1961 27-foot-long mahogany Chris Craft, was named Philadelphia magazine’s best place to pop the question for good reason, as it’s easily one of the most romantic settings — especially at sunset.

Wilde & Lovely is a thrifted apparel and accessories shop founded by Liana Vazquez-Calabrese and Christian Calabrese, a husband and wife duo of Indigenous, Puerto Rican and Colombian heritage.

Aside from their online boutique, the Calabreses host in-person pop-up markets that fuse art, culture and nature with accessories, scents and apparel. They are also active in community-minded projects and collaborations.

This Brazilian-owned butcher shop and grocery store has multiple locations in North Philly.

Local shoppers come here for the variety of fresh produce, pantry items, postres and prepared foods representative of Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Colombia and other South American cuisines.

Other popular offerings include hot meals and dishes from the grill, like empanadas y pastelillos, steak sandwiches and rice and beans.

This family-owned Mexican ice cream shop on South 12th Street is a sweet treat dream.

Paletas, handmade ice cream, fresh fruit plates (chopped mango topped with chamoy and tajín), milkshakes, quintessential snacks (elote with mayo, cheese and chile) and juices (tamarind shaved ice) are just a sliver of options here. Bonus: Many items are vegan-friendly.

Located in Rittenhouse Square, Reading Terminal Market and even as a Churro Bike riding across the city, Sofia Deleon’s El Merkury brings Central American street food to Philadelphians everywhere.

Hear Deleon talk more about building community as a Guatemalan native in season 3, episode 8 of our Love + Grit podcast.

This father-daughter business began as a paleta-making hobby and has since grown into an artisanal ice cream brand available online and in local supermarkets.

Helados Chupi Chupi’s all-natural frozen treats feature flavors inspired by Caribbean and Latin American traditions, and are also available for catering or as a mobile ice cream bicycle and popsicles cart. And stay tuned: Chupi Chupi is developing a new specialty coffee line under the brand Chupi Coffee.

In a city filled with neighborhood markets and small grocers, one of the most beloved for Latin American food and ingredients is South Philly’s J&J Supermarket.

The stocked-to-the-rafters grocery carries thousands of cultural staples, fresh produce and hard-to-find imports (think bacalao and salchichon) from Mexico, Colombia, Puerto Rico and owner Juan Carlos Romano’s native Dominican Republic, along with a generous hot food bar.

Romano personally purveys his favorite items (like Taino cookies and galletitas de leche), and revels in the diversity of his clientele, reflecting the neighborhood’s rich mix.

The Lucci family from Argentina is teaching Philadelphians how eating vegan and gluten-free food can be healthy and delicious.

The vegan grocer has multiple retail locations around Philadelphia — including the airport — offering fresh, frozen and microwavable prepared meals and pantry ingredients alongside its existing array of made-to-order vegan menu items and deli products.

Select locations also include breakfast (served all day), lunch and dinner available to-go, for delivery and catering.

Seeing coffee as a mission, founder Gabriel Boscana of Máquina Coffee Roasters has serious chops as a former roasting manager for Intelligentsia Coffee.

His online shop offers coffee subscriptions for a slew of blends (ethically sourced from places like Guatemala, Costa Rica and Honduras), then roasted locally with care.

Shop-branded gifts, including T-shirts and hats, are also available, and his do-good mentality extends to raising awareness (and funds) for good causes.

Branding their Fishtown operation as “Philly’s Neighborhood Winery,” husband and wife owners Nicholas Ducos and Francesca Galarus founded Mural City Cellars to celebrate regional wine through a more accessible, inclusive and fun neighborhood wine bar.

In addition to their tasting room and bottle shop, Mural City hosts a “wine garden” during warm-weather months (kids and pets welcome) across the street at the NKCDC Garden with rotating vendors and entertainers. Ducos’ sommelier skills and Galarus’ eye for arts and community have helped Mural City — the city’s first independent urban winery — become an important leader of Pennsylvania’s critically acclaimed wine scene.

Hear more on season 2, episode 18 of our Love + Grit podcast.

Tenango was launched in 2023 by El Merkury’s Sofia Deleon, who was inspired by her great-grandmother’s story of making Guatemalan moonshine with sugarcane 100 years ago.

Through bartender collaborations and cocktail specials around the city, Deleon is on a mission to educate Americans on high-quality, premium Guatemalan rum.

Pick up a bottle at Fine Wine & Good Spirits throughout Greater Philadelphia, or order a Tenango rum cocktail at your favorite bar.

From Amy’s Pastelillos (named Esquire’s favorite Puerto Rican spot) to multi-generational Rittenhouse Square institution Tequilas Casa Mexicana, there are scores of incredible spots in Philly for dinner, drink and dessert.

For more, check out Visit Philly’s roundup of nearly 40 of the best Latino-owned Philly eateries.