"The importance of this, is that the previous owners deeply believe in the Virgen of Guadalupe, in the Virgen of this, of that, so that is why the Virgen is there, but in conclusion, the Virgen is not the mero mero (the one and only), the mero mero, is Almighty God. I cannot pose next to the mural because I’m a Jehova's witness, and it is against my religion." - Lucy, Santa Cruz Market

"Years back when I took over the store, the store did have another Virgen mural, I am catholic so we are very aware of the symbol of la Virgen, more religious, you know. Been on the store itself, you might say been on the neighborhood, prevents tagging or as a symbol for the people, I prefer keep it on. The Cholitos do a lot of tagging, and having the symbol of la Virgen, they don’t really touch your store, especially when you’re from the neighborhood, they respect you. The symbol is what it signifies, la Virgen, on the day of la Virgen, I get people stopping and praying, leaving their flowers. I had the building repainted, and wanted to go a little bit farther. I went through 5 painters, the last one, Jaime, he took 5 days to paint it. I said I want a really nice Virgen, and to be honest I can say from all the years that I’ve been here, I’ve been tagged, maybe three times, max four times on the doors. They don’t touch the Virgen. We haven’t had any problems. Also it brings us luck and protection.” - Nora, Palomino Meat Market and Bakery

"The Virgen of Guadalupe is a patrimony of Mexicans. It’s an ancestor of our ancestors from our roots since the arrival of the Spaniards, from there comes the Virgen of Guadalupe. It is important for us to conserve her anywhere in the world we go, that is why we painted the mural, if we can’t go, we remember, if we are not with her well she is with us, It's nice to have something from your country, when you're so far away when you can’t go. The artists who get hired is the one that paints the best, a contest is done. That is why we make the effort to have the Virgen for divine protection." - Paulino, Ramirez Market

“We got the store about 15 years ago, the mural was already there, I do not know if you notice, but they have murals all around the store, so the mural have always been there. Religiously, we’re not really religious, but in the neighborhood pretty much everyone around here is. I can’t seat here and say I know the significance of it. I wouldn’t take the mural more as like it’s advertisement for the store, I would just take the mural as more as a respect for the neighborhood.” - Brenda y Memo, El Paisa Market

"When I got the store, the Virgen was already there, so when I came to see the store to get it, the first impression was that I liked it, that’s it, the image of the Virgen because for me she has a very important meaning because she is the mother of God, she is the mother of Jesus, so since she is the mother of Jesus, then for me is as if she is the mother of all of us. Well then I think about the people who dedicate themselves to doing evil and as well as the boys who go around tagging, I think they have a little more respect for the place, and thank God they have not painted her, they have painting a little some walls, but they haven’t painted the Virgen, they respect her. When the image is repainted, it is blessed and for her celebration in December, we pray her a rosary, the novena to the Virgen, we gather and we do her a celebration on the 12th of December. The neighborhood gathers and we pray. So the Virgen was there but we retouched the old painting. Right now I haven’t fix her. There is also a neighbor who comes and fixes it, she says I have to go to light a candle for the Virgen, and people also come to light her her candle, but I don’t know suddenly, there were many candles, but like the other day, two days, there was no longer any more candles, they take them." - Margarita, Lupita’s Mini Mart

"One, it's Hispanic and we believe that she is the mother of Jesus. Each time we have a problem or we want to do well, we entrust ourselves to the Virgen of Guadalupe, so all local Hispanic, Mexican business have the custom, the tradition of putting the Virgen of Guadalupe to protects us and for us to do well at work, so that she brings us work and protect us from bad things that can happen here, then we recommend ourselves the Virgen. It is a mission as Hispanics, if we open a business we will put to the Virgen of Guadalupe to bless us and protect us. When they made the restaurant, the image was painted, we want to repaint it, because it’s getting faded, from where her mantle is it’s getting faded, but it is a Hispanic tradition, if you notice the business here is pure Mexican, Hispanic with Pancho Villa, Emilio Zapata, all that. We wanted to follow the Mexican tradition with the Virgen of Guadalupe. The landscape was made with the Virgen." -Alfredo, Taqueria los 3 carnales.

"We feel the divine protection of our mother and that is for us a beautiful faith, feeling that she is protecting us, it is something traditional, I feel her protection in my business and my animals too. The mural was made by a boy from Zacatecas, He uses only spray paints, The people here did not give him the support he needed and he had to return to his land, He paints very nice. If he returns, I want him to repaint her. The animals represent the pet shot, if you notice where the feet of the Virgen are, usually there is a little angel, but this time we decided to put the name of a baby who was our granddaughter who died, and instead of the little angel, the name of the baby girl and the date she was born and the date she passed away, that makes it different from the rest of the Virgenes. Because for me and the baby's father that little angel is no longer here, the only remain is her name and the date, it is something special in that Virgen. The mural is eleven years old." Gloria, Junior's Pet Zone

"From the religion, from the Catholic religion, there’s not much importance, it’s good because it’s the Virgen, right? And we are catholic. A painter drew it, I did not, I paid them to do it. The people like the mural, the mural is beautiful, it’s not ugly. You look at the fruits, the Virgen and the store products. All the people like it, but there are people who don’t like the mural, like Jehova’s witnesses don’t like it." -Arturo, Marketita Mazatlan