What started five years ago as an idea in Cristian Berumen’s head has turned into a night market that regularly sells out vendor booths across Arlington. The Small Business Mercado, founded by Berumen, began with fewer than 20 vendors and has since grown into a monthly event that has drawn as many as 4,000 attendees at its peak, according to Berumen.
Berumen got the idea for the market about five years ago, per his own account relayed in reporting by the Fort Worth Report, and he began holding it in the parking lot of his own storefront. Berumen owns Cristian’s Customs, a custom embroidery and sticker shop that also supplied 10-by-10 canopy equipment for early vendors, according to Mister Picoso. Those early markets were also held at 2004 East Abram Street, the site of that storefront, before the event outgrew the space.
The market’s early home also included the parking lot of Marquez Bakery, a business the Fort Worth Report’s reporting ties directly to the Small Business Mercado’s origin story. Marquez Bakery & Tortilla Factory was established in Arlington in 1990 and has operated for 36 years, expanding from a small panaderia into a full-service Mexican restaurant and tortilla factory that supplies pastries and tortillas across Tarrant County, according to the City of Arlington. Marquez Bakery, co-owned by market co-host Karina Nuñez’s family, was named the Arlington Police Department’s Community Outreach Partner of the Year in early 2026 for its community service and event collaborations, per the Lone Star Sentinel.
From Parking Lots to City Hall Plaza
Vendor permit changes caused the market to move among different business parking lots over time, the Fort Worth Report’s coverage notes, before it eventually landed a more permanent civic home. The market also operated at Vandergriff Park at one point, and Berumen personally approached a downtown Arlington organization about hosting the event in the city’s core. That organization ultimately hosted the Small Business Mercado in downtown Arlington, and by mid-2026 the monthly night market had settled into City Hall Plaza at 101 W. Abram Street, hosting more than 50 local vendors from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., according to Cristian Berumen…