When Love Meets Ambition

It was February 1990. Elvia was 17 and Tony was 19. Elvia had just arrived in Redwood City from Mexico and had a job babysitting her cousin who had been born a few months before. Tony also was a new arrival to this country. He’d spent his first six months picking fruit in the Central Valley. But he didn’t like the work, specifically getting up at 3 a.m., working 12-hour days, and earning $4.50 an hour. So he quit his job and moved to Redwood City where he had family.

The day after he moved, Tony landed a job in construction. Three days later, he met Elvia. (When Tony pronounces her name, he elongates the El, like he’s savoring a fine chocolate that he’s not quite ready to part with.) As Tony tells it, he had just gotten off from his construction job and was walking down El Camino when he spotted Elvia coming toward him. She was beautiful: tall–taller than him–and skinny (Tony’s word), with pale skin and a radiant smile. Gathering up his courage, he walked up to her and asked, “How are you?” Elvia laughed; she thought it was funny that Tony was speaking to her in English. She replied, “Hablas español? Tony, of course, did speak Spanish and was elated by her reply. Her height and fair skin had made him think she was American, but he was delighted to learn otherwise, knowing that their possible courtship would be far easier to navigate if they spoke the same language.

For the next few days, Tony returned to the location on El Camino where they had met, waiting for Elvia to reappear, and, finally, she did. Tony invited Elvia for coffee. She accepted. They started dating and six months later they got married.

Knowing what you want

What initially attracted Tony to Elvia was her looks. For Elvia, the attraction was Tony’s work ethic and ambition. In Mexico, Elvia’s family owned a mercadito where Elvia had worked ever since she could remember. As soon as she arrived in this country, she knew she wanted to start a business. She saw in Tony not only a soul mate but also a business partner. Plus, she didn’t think she’d ever find anyone who loved her as much as Tony did, who was as enamorado.

Elvia and Tony started making regular trips to the San Jose flea market to scope out potential businesses. Initially, Elvia thought she’d start a mercadito like her family’s, but that changed when she connected with a Latina at the market who suggested that Elvia buy clothes from her, then resell them to friends. Elvia was all in. At that point, she was working as a housecleaner at the Holiday Inn, but on nights and weekends she devoted herself to her new enterprise, packing her car with clothes, driving to the homes of friends, and friends of friends, and selling her wares. Her market was señoras in their 20s, 30s and 40s.

Soon Elvia suggested–and Tony concurred–that instead of buying clothes from their flea market contact they should purchase clothes wholesale at the LA Fashion Mart. One Sunday a month they’d drive to LA, sleep in their van, do a sweep of the Fashion Mart on Monday morning, and drive home in time for work on Tuesday.

Word apparently got out that Elvia and Tony’s business was booming because soon another flea market acquaintance approached Elvia and Tony to see if they wanted to buy her women’s clothing store on Main Street in Redwood City. 

Early success

At this point, a bit of marital strife ensued. Tony was not convinced that they could make ends meet if Elvia quit her job–she was now working as a housekeeper in Atherton. But Elvia prevailed and the store, Elvia’s Boutique, opened in Redwood City in 1992. Not wanting to risk a slow start, Elvia called everyone she knew to tell them about her new enterprise. On opening day, the store was packed.

Tony is willing to give Elvia full credit for the store’s success, explaining “Elvia had the idea. When we started the business, I was a little bit scared. We were really young. We didn’t have much money. But I listened to Elvia. She is the brain of the business.”

A few years after opening their store in Redwood City, the same flea market contact asked Tony and Elvia if they wanted to buy her clothing store in East Palo Alto. This time, Tony was all in. He quit his job in construction and started working at Elvia’s Boutique full time. The couple worked seven days a week. By now they had a new baby who accompanied Elvia to whichever store she happened to be working in that day. Their trips to the Fashion Mart were now weekly rather than monthly and, four nights a week, Elvia, after returning from work, made their employees lunch for the following day, which she and Tony brought to work the next morning. (Providing lunch for employees is common practice in Mexico, so they wanted to do that for their employees here.)

Then, in 1998, they learned about another available inexpensive retail space, this time in San Mateo. They agreed to make the purchase, and the third Elvia’s Boutique was born. At 4000 square feet, it was their biggest space yet.

Seize opportunities

It was about this time that a friend suggested that the couple expand into the party rental business. The friend’s proposition was too good to turn down: Their friend would rent them a metal chair for $0.50 which they could then rent to customers for $1. Soon after, EB Party Rental was launched. (They kept EB in their name as a tribute to Elvia’s Boutique.)

By now, Tony and Elvia had three kids and four stores, (They had also purchased another store in Redwood City.) In addition, they had purchased a three-bedroom home in Redwood City as well as some additional properties. 

Their business changed again when, about five years after purchasing stores in East Palo Alto and San Mateo, they learned that the areas where their properties were located were being redeveloped and they needed to leave. 

Meanwhile, their business in Redwood City continued to grow as it shifted from selling women’s clothing to renting everything event-related, from tables and chairs to cutlery to portable dance floors.

Today, the only clothing on display at EB Party Rental is formal attire for weddings and quinceañeras. There are no more pilgrimages to the LA Fashion Mart. Instead, merchandise is ordered online. And, instead of selling clothes to friends from the back seat of a car, customers include business behemoths like Google, Meta, and Stanford.

Early retirement 

When she was 43, Elvia retired, a decision she made following her father’s death. He had worked such punishing hours that he’d had little time with family and Elvia didn’t want to follow suit. “I changed everything in my life,” she says. “I had enough money. I was ok now. I just wanted to be with my children.”

Elvia’s time with her children paid off. While Elvia left school at age 14, her two daughters are college grads and her son is a student at Cañada College.  

The one vestige of Elvia’s former life is preparing meals for their employees. The store’s current location on the El Camino is just three blocks from the couple’s cozy, immaculate home. Four times a week, employees walk there for lunch, and, during especially busy times, for dinner, too.

Tony, meanwhile, hasn’t slowed down. He still works 80 hours a week; his only breaks are walks in the hills behind his house, a few hours at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church on Sundays, and an annual two-week vacation in Mexico.

What matters most

After chatting with Tony and Elvia, what becomes apparent is that even more significant than their business success, Elvia’s early retirement, or purchasing a home, is gaining American citizenship, a milestone which they reached more than 30 years after arriving in the U.S. 

“When I passed the test, I cried a lot,” Elvia says. “People don’t understand how hard life is when you don’t have papers.”

Tony has a different take on why becoming a citizen has meant so much. “I love this country. I don’t agree with everything, but I love it.”

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