Owner Rafael Muniz preparing a dish at the Pepes Market dessert bar. 

What started out as a small snow cone cart in front of the Muniz home has turned into a full-scale convenience store tucked in the middle of Hermiston.

Three years ago, the Muniz family started serving up Mexican snow cones in front of their home, where neighbors and friends often stopped by for a treat. Years later on May 19, the idea grew from a small cart into Pepes Market. Owner Rafael Muniz, alongside his wife and 15-year-old son, said they still serve many of those neighbors and friends who came to their cart, with the addition of new faces from surrounding homes near the market.

“A lot of people know us; people that went to that stand are now coming here,” Muniz said.

Tucked between West Hermiston Avenue and Ninth Street, the market has the regular convenience favorites, like chips, drinks and other snacks. What makes Pepes unique, according to Muniz, is their dessert bar chock-full of colorful treats and desserts, dishing out traditional Mexican snacks, drinks and dishes inspired by Muniz’s hometown.

“We wanted to give the flavors of Mexico to the public,” Muniz said.

Pepes Market is an ode to the Muniz family’s hometown of Colima, a small, sovereign state in Mexico. Muniz said he wanted to present a little piece of Colima here in Hermiston and recalled how on hot afternoons in the city, the locals flocked to these dessert-type bars for Mexican snow cones, Fruta Picada and Mangoneadas. It’s these dishes, among others, that inspired the family to start their business.

Their desserts contain fruit cut fresh daily and include traditional dishes, such as Paleta De Hielo, a milk-based ice pop, and Diablitos, a traditional dessert that translates to “little devil” and contains hot sauce, spicy tamarind candy and chamoy.

The Muniz family moved to Hermiston 19 years ago and worked in the farming and agriculture industry before transitioning to business ownership. Pepes Market was originally set to open in January, but due to COVID-19 the grand opening was delayed. This is the first store they’ve owned and Muniz hopes that people in town will stop by for some authentic Mexican treats and get to know a little bit of their food traditions in the process.

Pepes Market is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and is located on 905 W. Hermiston Ave.