Business is business, so the saying goes. For some people however, business is not always business. Sometimes it can be a great deal more than that.
For Macario Ramirez, business is most certainly not just business. His Houston-based store is a tribute to his father, his fellow nationals and the culture of his country. It just so happens that it pays the bills too.
Mr Ramirez and his store - Casa Ramirez - were recently featured in a CNN Money article entitled 'An art shop bridging borders: A Houston entrepreneur looks to his Mexican roots to build his business'.
The article, which will have inevitably led to some beneficial online PR for the business, looks at a store that has survived for more than two decades on tradition and authenticity.
Casa Ramirez is a Mexican folk store which sells all things Mexican, from Latino art to Day of the Dead dolls.
It is not only the tangible that is for sale however, lessons in Mexican history are also buyable, with the tuition given my Mr Ramirez himself as well as a collection of other local Mexican folklorists.
The store was opened in 1984 following the death of Mr Ramirez's father Jesus.
"I needed to do something for that wonderful man who worked his butt off for all of us," Mr Ramirez says of his father.
That "something" was to open a store similar to that of his fathers - a tribute of sorts.
And the business ode paid off, for 25 years later business is going well enough for the shop to be surviving the recession.
Not only this, it is also a champion of great Mexican art, entrusted with the sale of Laura Lopez Cano paintings - an artist who has a number of national exhibitions to her name.
Her paintings always sell however, with Ms Cano citing the nature of the shop and the shop owner as the predominant force behind the sales.
"Macario really sells without trying to sell. He's more like a proud father bragging about a child who became a doctor," she says.
Goodwill, honesty and traditionalism are yet to join the throngs of remembered relatives in November's Day of the Dead it would seem, a good things for the Houston community and indeed, the country at large.
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