Juana and Oscar Mu
ñoz combine work and family to bring a fresh attitude to
Marshall’s Market
Every day, Juana and Oscar Mu
ñoz invite a few dozen people into their home for good food, hot
coffee and friendly conversation.
The couple owns Marshall’s Market in Aromas, a small,
family-owned convenience store where locals can pick up a quart of
milk or some fresh veggies without leaving town, or sit outside the
store at one of two weather-beaten picnic tables with a cup of
coffee and watch their neighbors go by. The store includes a
kitchen with a menu of traditional, freshly made Mexican fare such
as tacos and burritos, and on Fridays and Saturdays, Marshall’s
offers barbecued tri-tip, skirt steak and chicken.
Juana and Oscar Muñoz combine work and family to bring a fresh attitude to Marshall’s Market
Every day, Juana and Oscar Muñoz invite a few dozen people into their home for good food, hot coffee and friendly conversation.
The couple owns Marshall’s Market in Aromas, a small, family-owned convenience store where locals can pick up a quart of milk or some fresh veggies without leaving town, or sit outside the store at one of two weather-beaten picnic tables with a cup of coffee and watch their neighbors go by. The store includes a kitchen with a menu of traditional, freshly made Mexican fare such as tacos and burritos, and on Fridays and Saturdays, Marshall’s offers barbecued tri-tip, skirt steak and chicken.
But what makes Marshall’s unique is the way Juana and Oscar treat each of their customers as if they were family.
“I’m a brand new resident, I haven’t been here very long, and from the first time I walked into this store, they made me feel welcome,” Aromas resident Barbara Templeton said. “Everybody is really great here. I come in to visit and we’ve become fast friends.”
“I tell everyone the store is really my living room,” Juana, 36, said. That makes sense since the store and family home are one large building. “Customers even help us watch our children. I’ll have someone come up to me and say ‘do you know the boys just went outside?'”
Marshall’s Market was originally owned by Dolan Marshall, who ran the store with his family for several decades until his death in 2001. His family tried to keep the store going, but his daughters soon decided to sell their father’s business. At the time, Juana and Oscar were living a few houses down from Marshall’s on Carpenteria Avenue, and when they saw the for sale sign in front of the market, Juana saw opportunity.
“I had worked for K-mart since I was 16 years old, and had worked my way up from the cash register to department manager, and I felt I had the retail experience to do it,” Juana said about running her own market. “When I walked into the store, it felt like home to me. I felt I could do this.”
There were other buyers interested, but for whatever reason, they pulled out, leaving Juana and Oscar free to make an offer.
“We were in escrow for so long, I wasn’t sure it was going to happen,” she said.
But in 2003, the sale became final, and Juana and Oscar, along with their two children, Andres and Luz, moved into the home connected to the market. A few months later, Marshall’s new owners re-opened the store.
“We officially opened on Aromas Day in 2003, and all we had to sell was chips, milk, beer and candy,” Juana said. “But what was interesting was seeing how excited people were to see the store opened again. The store had been closed for about nine months at that point, and people were happy to see it re-open.”
Before buying Marshall’s, Juana and Oscar were the typical commuter couple. They moved to Aromas because they liked the quiet town and the feeling that “it was a safe, nice place to raise our family,” Juana said. But Juana was driving to Watsonville every day, and Oscar, an auto body technician, was working for a car dealer in Santa Cruz. Juana would drive the kids over to her mother’s house off of San Juan Road every morning.
Since taking over the store, however, Juana simply wakes up, gets the kids ready for school and then opens the door that connects her home with her business. And today, both of her parents work for her – Juana’s father, Jesus Murillo, opens the store and works the register, and her mother, Carmen, prepares all of the food Marshall’s sells fresh daily.
“She does everything from scratch. You can feel her energy through her cooking,” Juana said about her mother. “Everything in the kitchen is my mother – her recipes, her ideas. We have skirt steak tacos, chimichangas, Jalisco-style enchiladas, and half-pound hamburgers. During Lent, we have specials on Wednesdays and Fridays such as chile rellenos or shrimp ceviche and we have capirotada (a traditional Mexican bread pudding served during Lent). We put in the kitchen about three years ago. It was an enormous step for us, but it was the best thing we’ve ever done. I think we make most of our money out of the kitchen.”
Marshall’s also does catering, and one of the biggest clients is Granite Rock, which hires the market to cater most of its company lunches, Juana said. In addition to the Friday-Saturday barbecues, Marshall’s also hosts a car show the third Wednesday of each month, which features classic cars, hot rods, motorcycles, barbecue and live entertainment.
“Cars are Oscar’s passion, so the shows are fun for him,” Juana said.
Juana and Oscar have not changed much in regards to the market’s appearance – the sign still boasts the name Marshall’s, a Marshall family photo hangs behind the register and floors are still the warped, slanted wood boards long-time Aromas residents remember.
“The first thing people told us when we bought the place was ‘don’t change the floors,'” Juana said. “When you walk on them, you can feel the history.”
But what the couple has done is provide customers with a wide range of items, such as organic food and produce, coffee, espresso, wellness teas and a number of Hispanic specialty food items.
“When we got the store, we brought in a big line of Mexican foods and groceries that weren’t available before, and now people ask us for advice because they know we know how to use these foods,” Juana said.
Just two years after purchasing Marshall’s, Juana was afraid the family might lose the business. Pregnant with twins, Juana developed complications with her pregnancy, and was put on bed rest by her obstetrician.
“I didn’t know what we were going to do,” Juana said, as tears quietly flowed down her cheeks. “It was more than losing a business. It was our home. But my sister, Lorena, just took over. She came in, handled the store, and every day she would dress Luz, bathe her and play with her. She had her own upholstery store in Pajaro and she closed it down to do this for us.”
Today, the entire Murillo-Muñoz family works in the store. Lorena, who met her husband, Ryan Weldon, while working for her sister, still works on Saturdays, and Andres, now 12, helps out as much as possible. Oscar comes home from his job at Marty Franich in Salinas to close the store each evening, and Luz, 7, often works at the register with her mother and grandfather. Even the twin boys, Chuy and Roberto, can be found running around the market.
“It took a long time for some of the old-timers to give us a look, but they are coming around now,” Juana said. “People here have been very supportive. You can make a mistake and they don’t get mad at you.”
Marshall’s Market is located at 300 Carpenteria Road in Aromas. Winter hours are 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily; the store opens at 6:30 a.m. during the summer. Car shows are held on the third Wednesdays of each month, with a special Saturday show in October. Catering is available. For more information, call 726-3244.
