Vanessa Porrez, 29. Pikitos (thrift store)
With a yellow awning poking out of Mission stores that hug each other, Vanessa Porrez, who was born and raised on 25th and Valencia streets, watched an elderly lady walk out with a colorful selection of clothing from Pikitos at 2336 Mission St.
Vanessa seemed happy to talk about her store. “We’re actually a family-run business. We opened four years ago and we are actually a second-hand thrift store.” They started out selling at the flea market for about 20 years.
Burning Man, she said, makes August one of their busiest months. Those who go, she said, are looking for “costumey” pieces.
Porrez now lives in San Bruno. We moved “only because we had stairs,” she said, pointing to her wheelchair.
I asked what’s a good piece of advice just for anyone, and she took a minute to think, “Always strive for what you wanna do. Definitely don’t let anything stop you. I know it sounds super cliché, but like, for real, just, like, as an example — this store. Everyone migrated from Honduras, so they started from projects living in Potrero Hill where it was super bad, and literally they didn’t let anything stop them.”