Iguana Imports, a shop originally opened in 1993 offering Mexican folk-art pieces, one-of-a-kind reclaimed hardwood furniture, and handcrafted jewelry from around the world, officially has new owners.
Andrea Yease and Miguel Martinez recently purchased the store, which is located at 3440 E. Broadway, and they’re currently working with a muralist to create an artistic piece in the storefront.
Historically speaking, the Iguana Imports location has been home to successful businesses. The storefront just west of Redondo on Broadway was previously Van’s Liquor, and before that, Stucker’s Drug store.
Gerald Van Winkle operated the liquor store, while Les and Mary Stucker ran the pharmacy and soda fountain, which had 14 stools and served eight flavors of ice cream.
The interior of Iguana Imports, which offers Mexican folk-art pieces, one-of-a-kind reclaimed hardwood furniture, and handcrafted jewelry from around the world. (Photo courtesy of Iguana Imports).
The interior of Iguana Imports, which offers Mexican folk-art pieces, one-of-a-kind reclaimed hardwood furniture, and handcrafted jewelry from around the world. (Photo courtesy of Iguana Imports).
Andrea Yease (right) and Miguel Martinez (left) are the new owners of Iguana Imports in Long Beach. (Photo courtesy of Iguana Imports).
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The interior of Iguana Imports, which offers Mexican folk-art pieces, one-of-a-kind reclaimed hardwood furniture, and handcrafted jewelry from around the world. (Photo courtesy of Iguana Imports).
The Stucker’s Park Estates home was decorated with a theme designed around two precious Ming vases they owned.
Today, Andrea and Miguel are following the Stucker’s lead running a small business in a town they love to live and work in. The Stucker’s love for Asian art and the Martinez/Yease’s passion for Mexican art makes the connection even more special.
Andrea shared their story and future plans with me in an interview I think you will enjoy.
Q: Why did you decide to take this on? What was your inspiration?
A: “Miguel’s family has been importing Mexican folk art and handicrafts from Oaxaca and the south of Mexico for the last 38 years. He grew up in the business and met master makers from all over Mexico.
Miguel and I met when I was studying in Mexico and fell in love. Our love of travel and other cultures was an important shared value between us, and we ended up living in Australia for a few years. From there, we traveled extensively throughout Asia. We eventually decided to return to North America and work in Miguel’s family business.
Iguana Imports started in 1993 and became our clients a few years ago. We felt an instant connection with the prior owners, Tom and Jorge, who shared the same passion for the world as we did. The first time we came to Long Beach, we felt the energy of the city and knew it was a place where we would love to live one day.
At one of our meetings with Tom and Jorge, they let us know that they were planning to retire and approached us about the opportunity of buying the shop.
Miguel and I had always thought about having a shop one day so we could showcase Mexican art and the incredible cultures we’ve seen and experienced in our travels. Tom and Jorge created such a unique and special place with this shop and we are thrilled to be the stewards of its next chapter.”
Q: Talk to me about how you source items for the store.
A: “We pride ourselves on having unique items sourced locally and from around the world. We work with local artists who do things like stickers and paintings for us.
We have sourced items from connections we’ve made in the places we have lived in as well. For our Mexican handicrafts, we go directly to the towns and pueblos where they create and work with them directly to import these items into the U.S.
All of the tin pieces come from my husband’s family’s workshop in Oaxaca. His grandfather started the workshop, and it grew from there.”
Q: Tell me about the creative events you have been hosting.
A: “We are lucky to have a versatile space at the shop. We have three galleries full of all sorts of one-of-a-kind items.
Our third gallery has paintings and specialty furniture. We decided that it would be a fun experience to host more events in the space and work with local community partners to showcase their work and bring more visibility to the store.
We just launched our workshops last month with our first sound bath by Yoga Sue, who is an organizer of Yoga on the Bluff.
We also have a partnership with Gregorio Luke who was the former director of the Museum of Latin American Art. He is doing a monthly lecture series with us on different art-related topics.
We have other events in the works, including a donations-based Pilates session, book club, and journal-making workshop which we will be announcing soon.
We are also planning a “reintroduction to the neighborhood” event to introduce ourselves as the new owners!”
Iguana Imports is open daily from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.