D'Luna serves Gunnison community for 10 years

D’Luna Mexican Store, owned by Dulce Marisol Luna Garcia, has been bringing a taste of Mexico and Central and South America to the Gunnison Valley for over ten years.

Garcia settled down in the Gunnison Valley and built a home here with her husband, Orlando, after leaving Mexico in the early 2010s. D’Luna opened in 2016 and was located on Tomichi for several years before moving to North Main Street about six years into their business venture. They welcomed customers into their new location in 2022, and Garcia expanded her business by selling ice cream and other treats.

D’Luna is split into two sections: groceries, pharmacy, and home goods on the right, and food and snacks on the left. They offer authentic Mexican food, groceries, and snacks from all over South America.

The kitchen is compact but keeps busy turning out hot dishes like tortas, quesadillas, tacos, and birria, along with prepared fruit cups, Jell-O desserts, and bionicos - layered fruit bowls topped with cream, nuts, and sweets.

Maricruz Hernandez, an employee of two years who works in the kitchen, prioritizes putting love and care into the food she makes for her customers.

“I feel at home when I’m cooking here, because I love cooking,” said Hernandez. “I love taking care of the customers. I’m very talkative, so I love to talk to them and give them delicious food.”

The kitchen complements the grocery side of the store, where customers can find their favorite ingredients such as pasta, spices, and chiles as well as prepackaged snacks and foods like chips, frozen meat and dinners, nuts, and beans. They also sell shampoo, toothpaste, and household cleaning supplies. They offer a small pharmacy up at the front desk with basic medicines such as cold medicine, pain relievers, and allergy pills.

“I started working here in May, but before this I was in Mexico working at a big chain store called Soriana,” said Nereyda Gonzalez, who works at the front end of the store. “So it feels like I just transferred to a smaller version here in Gunnison.”

D’Luna Mexican Store operates as a neighborhood store and a service hub, with employees juggling a wide range of daily tasks to keep the store running smoothly. On the front end, staff help with money transfers, stock shelves, and help customers find whatever they need. Behind the scenes, workers are constantly cleaning, unpacking deliveries, stocking shelves, and refilling coolers.

“People think we don’t do much, but the truth is we’re busy all day long,” said Gonzalez. “But even though we each have our own section, we help each other out as much as we can.”

D’Luna Mexican Store has become a cornerstone for Gunnison’s Latino community by offering essential services and a sense of home. For many customers, D’Luna feels like a tiendita, or a Mexican corner store, from home. Customers can come in, wire money to their families, and find snacks, ingredients, and remedies they grew up with.

“Customers have told me that they feel really welcomed here,” said Hernandez. “They can talk to us in Spanish, and it’s comfortable. We serve anyone who comes in; everyone is welcome, but for Latino customers especially it feels like a piece of home.”

The sense of comfort is paired with economic benefits. D’Luna provides local jobs, keeps money circulating within the community, and draws both Latino and non-Latino customers into an immigrant-owned business.

Looking ahead, Garcia is set to expand D’Luna’s presence in the Gunnison Valley with a new restaurant located in the Mountain Meadows Shopping Center. The upcoming establishment aims to build on the success and welcoming atmosphere of the original store, offering a sit-down dining experience centered around authentic Mexican recipes, traditional cooking techniques, and family-style meals including D’Luna specialties such as mole, fajitas, and carne asada, as well as taco salads, wings, seafood, soup, and dessert.