Juan and Mercedes Navarro run local favorite gardening and gift shop

For the past 45 years, Juan and Mercedes Navarro have been meeting the gardening and gift needs of Portola Valley [and adjoining towns].

Juan and Mercedes came to the U.S. in 1970. Although they didn’t know each other when they first arrived, they both found jobs in a manufacturing company in South San Francisco that made inflatable pool toys. Before long, they discovered both came from Jailsco State in Mexico and from towns that were not too far apart.

They married in 1975 and spent their honeymoon at Disneyland. The “magic kingdom” experience evidently worked because later this year they will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

Juan and Mercedes have three children and three grandchildren. Their oldest, a son, Graciela works at the San Francisco Airport. Their daughter, Milanda and their youngest son Mauriceo manage the offshoot Ladera Garden and Gifts located in Belmont.

When their manufacturing jobs went away, Juan went to work for a nursery in Millbrae, and Mercedes worked at several different jobs. Then, in 1981, Juan learned that the owner of the Ladera Garden Center (Andre and his wife Mimi) wanted to retire and Juan found enough money to assume ownership of the business and Mercedes soon joined him.

Now, forty-five years later, Ladera Garden and Gifts is not only Ladera Shoppers’ oldest tenant, but also its largest. Twenty years ago, when a Shopper gift store left, the Navarros added more space and started their gift business.

Asked about who decides what they buy, Juan said he decides on all of the “outdoor” items while the indoor plants and gifts are handled by the team. When ask where their products come from, it became a geography lesson because they buy from suppliers in Israel, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Columbia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand and several other places (including Hawaii and Half Moon Bay).

When Juan and Mercedes first heard about Ladera, they had no idea where (or what) it was. Juan said they envisioned a setting like Gilroy. Once located however, they fell in love with Ladera and its residents. Now forty-five years later, the love affair continues and Ladera is lucky to have such a wonderful business and such a special couple.

Photo by Mike Crisp; this post originally appeared in Ladera Crier — used with permission.