It's a one-stop shopping center. Customers who visit the Zia Center can have dinner at the Puerto Peñasco Restaurant, shop for clothing at D'Classe Boutique, buy freshly baked Mexican bread or tortillas at Panadería Zaragoza, get a manicure at Ocean Nails & Spa and even buy a quinceañera or wedding dress at El Palacio de los Regalos.

Others might opt to get some cash from the Guadalupe Credit Union, shop for staples such as milk and eggs at Mini Super Delicias and rent a movie at Casablanca Video.

The center, at 4641 Airport Road, was constructed in 2007 and provides about 25,500 square feet of retail space, with a total of nine shops.

These centers are an asset to the people who live in neighborhoods several miles from the bigger shopping areas, said Mike Mykris, director for the Santa Fe Small Business Development Center at Santa Fe Community College.

Most of the businesses at Zia are owned and operated by Mexican immigrants; one is owned by a Vietnamese family that moved from California and the rest by native Santa Feans.

"The more diverse it is, the more fun it is to go there. A diverse group of business owners, that's a good economic driver. It brings a diverse population of shoppers," Mykris said.

According to Larry Waldman, senior economist with the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at The University of New Mexico, every time a new job is created in a place like the Zia Center, three-tenths of an additional job is created somewhere else. "That's just a conservative estimate," he said.

Waldman said small businesses, such as the ones at Zia Center, mostly impact the local neighborhood and not the economy as a whole. But, Mykris argued, "They are the driver for the economic viability for a small city such as ours. Without small businesses, we would be in the dark."

These mom-and-pop shops, such as the seven operating in the Zia Center, generate gross receipts and pay taxes to the city and state, Mykris said. And the wages of their employees, who earn at least the state minimum of $7.50 an hour (the center is not within the city, where the minimum wage is higher) add thousands of dollars annually to the local economy.

For shoppers such as Bih Akuma, the main attraction is convenience. "I bank with Guadalupe and thought it would be nice to take some pastries home," she said while looking through the glass cases filled with Mexican sweet bread at Panadería Zaragoza, which opened a year ago. "I'll probably take some for my sister, too."

Bakery co-owner Armando Vega said each day the store sells 150 to 180 pounds of tortillas and bakes at least 300 conchas, a spongy bread crusted with sugar.

Ken Huynh, manicurist at Ocean Nails & Spa, said his brother decided to open the business last May after moving to Santa Fe believing his service was needed on that side of the city.

Angélica Ruiz said she visits the nail salon three times per month. "I've lived on Airport all my life and it's nice to see services here, I don't have to travel so far," Ruiz said as Huynh worked on her acrylic nails. "They treat their customers very, very well and you get to build relationships. Here you don't feel like a number."

Ruiz also mentioned she sometimes has lunch or dinner at Puerto Peñasco because the meals remind her of home cooking. "That restaurant has food like (what) my grandma serves," Ruiz said.

The restaurant's owner, Rubén Rodríguez, said he was the first business in the center to open 26 months ago. "I liked this location because I wanted to work with local people," he said in Spanish. "We have a lot of young families in this area. A good number of my clients are non-Hispanic, so it's nice to attract that crowd as well."

Targeting an underserved community was the main reason Guadalupe Credit Union opened a branch at the Zia Center, said manager Alejandra Seluja.

The diverse business climate translates into an opportunity to grow the business, said Guadalupe Angélica Olivas, owner of D'Classe Boutique. "If customers go next door, they tend to stop by here," she said. "It's somewhat of a mutual help."

Contact Sandra Baltazar Martínez at 986-3062 or smartinez@sfnewmexican.com.