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A new pop-up storefront in Center City, Philadelphia, aims to support immigrant-owned small businesses by selling their merchandise.
Located in the former home of The Center for Architecture at 1218 St., Immigrant Marché opened its doors at the end of October and will sell its products through the end of the year. The store gets its name from a program run by The Welcoming Center to aid businesses operated by foreign-born residents and is a collaboration with Making Worlds Bookstore.
The pop-up features handmade earrings, bags, bouquets and artwork from several immigrant-owned small businesses, along with a curated selection of social justice-centered books from Making Worlds Bookstore, a nonprofit cooperative and social center thatshuttered its brick-and-mortar store in West Philadelphia in December 2025.
Layla El Tannir, director of entrepreneurship and Immigrant Marché at The Welcoming Center, said the storefront is the latest experiment in growing the multicultural marketplace and nonprofit, which supports immigrant-owned businesses selling packaged food and beverage, beauty and craft items.
Since launching in 2024, Immigrant Marché has focused on plugging into existing markets, including the Christmas Village and Reading Terminal Market in Center City, and one at the Bok Building in South Philadelphia.
The Center City pop-up allows entrepreneurs to showcase wares in a brick-and-mortar space.
“We had some momentum, and people wanted us to be around for the holiday season, and this works out [perfectly],” she said. “We’re right in Center City still, very close to the Welcoming Center, in between Christmas Village and the Reading Terminal Market, and so we thought, why not?”
The collaboration with Making Worlds Bookstore is an example of The Welcoming Center’s mission of promoting inclusive economic growth through immigrant integration.
“It’s not just about immigrant-owned, but also neighbors of immigrants, native-borns,” El Tannir said.
Providing a ‘base’ for immigrant entrepreneurs
The store is a “great blessing,” said Yuli Marcela Vinces Lopez, one of the entrepreneurs whose products are featured in Immigrant Marché.
Vinces López and her husband, Andrés Felipe Muñoz, cofounded ArtesinA in 2021. The couple from Colombia create paintings and handmade accessories, including rings, bracelets, earrings and bags, using macrame and abstract patterns.
They use repurposed and recycled materials, and they donate a portion of their proceeds to an organization that spays and neuters stray cats.
Vinces Lopez said immigrant entrepreneurs face a multitude of challenges.
“The essential one I think is fear, because many times we have ideas, but because of that fear it is hard for us to take the plunge,” she said.
Other barriers for immigrant entrepreneurs include navigating city laws, understanding how the culture works and learning English.
Organizations and initiatives such as The Welcoming Center and Immigrant Marché “help you to have a base to be able to get started,” Vinces Lopez said.
She and her husband benefitted from taking business planning courses with the center, and have gained additional skills and reached new clients through their involvement in Immigrant Marché.
Being a part of the pop-up storefront is “a great help,” she said.
“Being in Immigrant Marché has been very, very interesting for us,” Vinces Lopez said. “It’s a great blessing because it’s giving us tools to know what it’s like to have your product exhibited in a local store.”
El Tannir said the center’s programming for immigrant business owners focuses on planning, coaching, lending and innovation.
The goal, she said, is to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses “in a safe, supportive way while also meeting the gap in the market.”
The initiative aims to serve as an incubator, providing a permanent space and ongoing opportunities for a rotating group of entrepreneurs, El Tannir said.
“The key though will be for us to figure out the balance of when it’s time for an entrepreneur to roll out and how we best support them with that,” she said. “And by ‘roll out,’ I don’t mean leave us forever, but to take that next big step for their business.”
The Immigrant Marché storefront also features small and large gift boxes with products from immigrant-owned small businesses in the city that have not participated in The Welcoming Center’s programs, but connected with the initiative after learning about their work.
El Tannir said supporting immigrant-owned local businesses has a wider impact on Philadelphia’s economy as a whole.
“When Philadelphians come and support, or outside visitors come and support and purchase these products, it goes back to supporting families in the city, and it gives these entrepreneurs the ability to make their business something that their family can depend on,” she said. “Without having these opportunities to scale, they are likely working full-time jobs, maybe one or two full-time jobs to support their families.”
A network of support during a ‘difficult time’ for Philly’s immigrant communities
Vinces Lopez said resources such as The Welcoming Center and Immigrant Marché are all the more important given the “difficult time” immigrant communities are experiencing in Philadelphia due to increased immigration enforcement activities under President Donald Trump’s administration.
“We came to this country to give the best of ourselves, to work together, to bring our creativity and our ideas,” she said. “It’s sad what’s happening right now, but we are resilient. … We are going to continue because us immigrants also belong here.”
El Tannir said Immigrant Marché, which launched the day after the 2024 general election, has served as aars
“This has been ae said, who have been able to be “a
“They’ll say, ‘This has really helped keep my mind going in the right direction for my business,’ and I’m so glad that I could play a small part in that for them,” El Tannir said.
Vinces Lopez said she tries to share information about resources from The Welcoming Center and organizations with other immigrant entrepreneurs whenever possible.
“It’s about receiving and also giving and supporting one another in community because that’s how we all keep advancing,” she said.
Immigrant Marché is open 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, through Dec. 31.
Editor’s Note: The interview with Yuli Marcela Vinces Lopez was conducted in Spanish and translated for this article.
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