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Like many Aurorans, Nancy Martinez is a product of more than one culture.

And that’s exactly what she has incorporated into her new store in dowtown Aurora, Nide Jardin, 140 S. River St., a home decor and plant boutique that features local vendors from the area where she grew up, and the bright, vibrant colors of the Mexican home of her parents and grandparents.

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“I want a place for the community to feel they have an oasis, especially in the winter – not just in the summer,” she said. “Younger people can see someone who looks like them open a business.”

Martinez was born and raised in Aurora’s Pigeon Hill neighborhood on the East Side, and calls herself an East Aurora High School Tomcat through and through.

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By the same token, she has taken trips back to Mexico where her parents came from, and her grandmother still lives. It was at her grandmother’s house that she saw the bright colors that she has put into Nide Jardin.

Nide Jardin, in downtown Aurora, features bright colors, plants and home decor items. (Steve Lord / The Beacon-News)

“I tried to incorporate both cultures,” she said.

The name Nide Jardin hails in part from an old saying in Spanish, “Ni De Aqui, Ni De Alla.” It translates as, “Neither From Here, Nor There.”

Martinez said the saying relates to people in Aurora asking where she’s from, and she answers, Aurora.

“Then they say, ‘but where are you really from?’” she said. “I say, Aurora. When I’m in Mexico, they just look at me as an American. I’m neither from here, nor there, but I’m from everywhere!”

Like many during the pandemic, Martinez was in seclusion and feeling sad. She began to make plans for a business that would include the plants she loves.

“I kind of started thinking, if I feel this much joy, why not others?” she said.

Still, she admitted, she was unsure about opening a store.

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“I never would have imagined I would open my own business, downtown, in my own hometown,” she said.

Her husband, Hector Martinez, owner of Martinez Built, spent months remodeling the suite in the River Street Plaza, and Nide Jardin was born. Martinez opened the business quietly this week, and plans a bigger grand opening sometime in May, around Mothers Day.

The front of the store features plants and home decor items, and in the back part of the suite is an open space Martinez plans to eventually use for workshops and other events. She’s open to ideas for programs for both young people and adults.

“We have a large Latino community,” she said. “This could be a space for other small businesses to come in.”

The store is another in the burgeoning South River Street area in downtown Aurora, across the street from the Aurora Public Library. The area is seeing more boutique-type stores, coffee houses, brew pubs and restaurants, in a mix of historic and new buildings.

People can see more about the store at NideJardin.com

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Source: chicagotribune.com