For nearly 70 years, Honey Bee Market has offered a taste of home to its customers in Southwest Detroit.
The area, also known as Mexicantown, is home to the largest concentration of Hispanics in Southeastern Michigan.
“One of the things that brings us together is the food and so many generations. That’s how it all started was bringing foods the foods that was hard to find to a community that needed the food and was looking for a little bit of home,” owner Tammy Alfaro-Koehler said .
WXYZ Alfaro-Koehler inherited the family business and remembers working at the grocery store, which was much smaller when she was a kid.
“I wasn’t very tall for a cashier and I used to get on a milk crate,” she joked.
Hear more from Alfaro-Koehler during out full interview with her in the video player below:
Interview: Owner reflects on history of Honey Bee Market in Detroit
Her grandparents started Honey Bee in 1956 in a little storefront. Today, customers flood into a much larger building to grab fresh produce and ready-made meals from the kitchen.