Mountain View’s downtown businesses see tariffs as obstacle to staying afloat

When Sara Puga walked into her family’s Mexican restaurant last week, she encountered a shattered glass door and the possibility of a burglary. It turned out nothing was taken from Los Portales, the restaurant that her family has run for decades on Moffett Boulevard.

But the break in came at a bad time, Puga said. The family does not have a lot of leeway to navigate extra expenses.

“We’re paying more for avocados, tomatoes and other things,” Puga said.

Now the restaurant is contending with the possibility of tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.

The proposed tariffs cover a wide range of imported goods: from fresh produce, flowers, meats, wines and liquors to textiles, steel, aluminum and auto parts.

“We’re holding out but it’s difficult,” Puga said – a sentiment shared by many small businesses in downtown Mountain View and along Moffett.

In recent years, business owners have had to deal with pandemic closures, rising costs and a large number of storefront vacancies that have deterred people from visiting the downtown area.

The on-again, off-again tariffs are not helping, creating a lot of economic insecurity for Mountain View businesses that already are operating on thin margins.

“Uncertainty is never a good thing for businesses of any size, especially those with limited resources who cannot ride out wild fluctuations – particularly in the pricing and availability of goods and services,” said Peter Katz, president and CEO of the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce in an emailed statement.

The Voice spoke with seven business owners in downtown Mountain View, many of whom expressed concerns that the tariffs were another obstacle to keeping their doors open.

“I’m already struggling to stay in business,” said Denise Ta, owner of a facial boutique store on Castro Street. The shelves of Ta’s store are stocked with products from Japan, a country facing steep tariffs from the Trump administration.

“It’s going to be bad,” she said.

To stay afloat, several business owners said they would consider raising prices on their products and services. But it was not seen as an ideal solution, as it could deter customers.

“Prices have been going up since COVID,” said Alberto Sousa, owner of Sousa’s Wine and Liquors on Moffett Boulevard. “Who can afford it, especially in Silicon Valley where it’s already so expensive to live?”

Sousa sells a lot of Portuguese and Brazilian specialty items. To appeal to cash-strapped customers, he’s prominently displaying cheaper drinks at the store entrance and offering cost-saving deals.

Sousa also is considering stocking more local products.

One customer was not convinced by the idea and laid out about half a dozen packages of frozen Brazilian cheese bread at the cash register. “There is no American cheese bread so I’ll keep paying for it even if prices go up,” she said.

The woman conceded that she would buy American wine if imported wines became too costly.

However, it’s not so easy to source inexpensive local products, according to Juan Origel, owner of Ava’s Downtown Market and Deli on Castro Street.

When Origel first opened Ava’s, he wanted to promote only local products, but then realized it would be unaffordable for the average person.

“We already have some of the highest cost of doing business in the nation, perhaps the world – high labor cost, insurance and too many government regulations,” Origel said in an email.

“Only a few people understand these factors and are willing to pay for these goods, knowing they are helping the local economy as well as generating a smaller carbon footprint. However, the majority of Americans don’t think that way,” Origel said. Or they can’t afford it, he added.

Even when products are locally sourced, a lot of the packaging is manufactured in foreign countries like China. “There is no escape,” Origel said.

For some Mountain View business owners, the tariffs were cause for concern but also seen as beyond their control.

“I’m just putting up with the pricing for now,” said Paolo Mejia, owner of Art Frame Studio on Castro Street. Like others, Mejia was worried that passing on costs would scare off customers.

Stefan Flores, general manager of Crash Champions on Moffett Boulevard, said the store was not experiencing higher prices on auto parts or supply chain issues yet. But most of the parts they order come from China, Germany and Japan, and they’re expecting the costs to go up.

“We will be upfront with our customers,” Flores said, referring to possible price increases because of tariffs. “It’s nothing we can control,” he added.

But it was not just the tariffs that were troubling many downtown Mountain View businesses. They also spoke about more localized concerns, like the street closure at Castro Street that the city implemented during the pandemic to support outdoor dining. The pedestrian mall has become a permanent fixture, cutting off thoroughfare traffic at Moffett Boulevard.