‘Walking the walk’ for more than a decade
Changing the food paradigm, one person at a time
January 12, 2026
GREEN BAY – The popular Mi Favorita Supermarket on East Mason will soon have a second home on Green Bay’s west side.
Owner Nora Grajeda said she bought the building at 1125 W. Mason St., and construction is underway, with plans to open around spring.
Grajeda said the decision to expand was shaped by both her own vision and feedback from customers.
The same and more
The new location, Grajeda said, will still be “an ethnic grocery store” with all of the same things as the east side location – a deli, a bakery, a meat department – but will be bigger and offer more.
“This is my creation,” she said. “This is my baby. I’m starting this from zero. It’s exciting, but at the same time it’s scary. It’s a big responsibility. It’s a big investment.”
Grajeda said the new building also includes a room in the back that she plans to convert into an event space, a project she plans to tackle once the store is fully operational.
She said the new location serves as a source of “hope” for the city’s west side, an area that currently lacks a Latino grocery store.
The supermarkets’ history
Grajeda said she began her journey as a business owner in 2007, acquiring Supermercado Lempiras.
Though she “didn’t know anything about running a business,” she said she is a very determined woman and doesn’t give up easily.
After Fox Communities Credit Union took over the land where Supermercado Lempiras was located in 2014, Grajeda said she moved the supermarket and renamed it La Popular.
Limited space for growth and upcoming rent increases, Grajeda said, prompted her to move in 2017 to 1908 E. Mason, where she renamed the store Mi Favorita.
“I like to provide different foods for different cultures,” she said.
To do that, Grajeda said it often meant going to Chicago to get her produce.
During her first seven years in business, she said she rented a truck once a week and made the drive herself.
Now, she said she only makes the trip occasionally, as a delivery company handles most of it.
Ever since moving into her current location, Grajeda said she noticed the store growing, and as her customer base expanded, she began envisioning a new location on the west side.
After the decision to open a second location was made, Grajeda said she scouted potential locations.
After discovering the building that had previously housed a Salvation Army store was for sale, she said she knew it was the ideal spot – being already familiar with it, since it was close to her home.
Grajeda’s history
Having moved to the U.S. from Guatemala in November 2001, Grajeda said owning an ethnic grocery store allows her to share her cultural roots with the people of Northeast Wisconsin.
Grajeda said their first visit to Wisconsin was for a vacation.
A teacher by profession, she said she typically had two months of vacation time, but she requested additional time off so she could spend six months visiting family in the state.
At the time, Grajeda said she was a single mother with three children, the youngest just seven years old.
Once they arrived in Wisconsin, she said her brother suggested they stay – and that’s exactly what they did.
Grajeda said she became a U.S. citizen and started over in America.
“I started working on a farm [in Gillett] milking cows,” she said. “Something that I never did before.”
Grajeda said her early experiences in Wisconsin were “really, really different” – with the winters being especially challenging.
“It was hard for me in the winter,” she said. “I never experienced this type of weather [in Guatemala]. I cried many times.”
But Grajeda said she also worked really hard, too.
“I came here with really basic English,” she said. “So, when my son started going to school, he started from first grade, and I was studying with him. I was doing the same homework and studying and studying… asking questions. ‘How do you do this? How do you say this?’”
Grajeda said her desire for independence stems from her strong, self-reliant nature.
After three years working on the farm, she said she started working as a bilingual paraprofessional at a school in Green Bay.
“My diploma from [Guatemala] helped me get that job here,” she said.
Grajeda said her time at the school lasted just a year, overlapping with the beginning of her entrepreneurial journey.
A family member, she said, encouraged her to explore the sale of Supermercado Lempiras, and the rest, as they say, is history.
“I made a lot of mistakes, [but I persevered],” she said.
At the time, with a fourth young child and just two staff members, Grajeda said she juggled roles as cashier and butcher.
Now, she said she’s ready to open a second store with a staff of more than 20 to support her.
“I am really excited,” she said. “I have faith the west side is going to accept this business, and it’s going to be successful in offering job opportunities and helping others.”
For updates on the new Mi Favorita location, check out Mi Favorita Supermarket’s Facebook page, where Grajeda said the grand opening will be announced.
