“There are days when we don’t sell anything,” say business owners at  Plaza Las Americas in Lilburn

Ana stands behind racks of clothing at her small storefront inside Plaza Las Americas, an indoor Latino shopping mall in Lilburn. In the eight years since she opened the shop – which sells sparkling party dresses, blue jeans, and high heels – she’s never seen business so slow. It’s a Tuesday morning in late May and the mall is quiet. Employees and shop tenants around the mall scroll on their phones, mop the floors, and move around their merchandise. 

“Demasiado se bajó las ventas,” Sales are too low, said Ana, who moved here from Guerrero, Mexico, over three decades ago. She started noticing a drop in sales about two months after President Donald Trump returned to office in 2025, and since then, she said, they have not picked up.  “Hay días que nos vamos en cero; yo me he ido en cero hasta tres días corridos,” she said. There are days when we don’t sell anything; I’ve gone three days in a row without making a single cent.

Plaza Las Americas, which describes itself as a place to  “celebrate Latin culture in Georgia”, is home to about 170 businesses ranging from shops selling items like  quinceanera dresses, phones, and crafts from Latin America, as well as those providing services like tax and immigration law consultations. It’s not just a place for shopping, it’s also a cultural hub for Hispanic families in the Gwinnett County area, with regular events to to mark occasions like Dia de los Ninos and Dia de los Muertos. 

285 South spoke to nearly a dozen store owners or employees at the mall who said they have seen a drop in sales in the past year and a half. Some owners said they have had to lay off people, while others said they couldn’t afford to restock inventory as often as they used to. Many have thought about scaling down or even closing their business entirely. Only one tenant, who owns a graphic design company, said his business has been good, partly driven by many companies wanting to do special jerseys for their employees ahead of the World Cup. 

We’ve changed the names of those we spoke with to protect their safety.

Before 2025, Ana said she used to make between $6,000 and $7,000 in sales per month. Now, she barely makes $3,000 a month. $1500 of that goes to the rent for the retail space, and the rest goes to commercial insurance, credit card processing fees, and to re-supply the store, she said. To survive, Ana makes tamales, enchiladas, quesadillas and cakes at home, which she then sells either to her neighbors or to people at the mall.

“Ni siquiera entonces se puso así de feo en la pandemia. Cuando reabrimos, las ventas estaban locas. La gente compraba, pero ahorita nada. Lo único que nos queda es pedirle a Dios.” It didn’t even get this bad during the pandemic. When we reopened, sales were crazy. People were buying—but right now, nothing. The only thing left for us to do is pray to God.

Day to day life is getting more expensive; the annual inflation rate was at 3.8% in April this year, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank – that’s up from last year when it was at 2.3%. 

And, many people 285 South spoke to said they’d also seen the firsthand impact of immigration enforcement on their business; some said customers told them their spouses were detained or deported, leaving them as a single-income household. Others said misinformation around ICE presence at the mall was keeping people away. A spokesperson for the management of Plaza Las Americas told 285 South in a written statement that the mall has not experienced any ICE raids and stressed that the rumors can have a broader impact on local businesses, many of which serve and are supported by immigrant families. “We encourage the public to rely on verified information and official sources when seeking updates about Plaza Las Américas or any community-related matters.”

The increased immigration enforcement people spoke about appears to be in line with state and national trends; Georgia ranks fifth among states with the most ICE arrests. Nationwide, arrests of Latinos spiked during the first year of Trump’s second term, with a 253% increase in the year over year by June 2025. 

The spokesperson also said, “As a privately owned property, law enforcement must communicate with management and present any required legal documentation before accessing non-public areas of the property. When legal authorization is presented, Plaza Las Américas follows the applicable legal process.”

The mall has maintained a steady occupancy rate of over 90%, the spokesperson said. “Like any retail center, there is occasional tenant turnover; however, we consistently receive applications from entrepreneurs and small business owners looking to establish or expand their businesses at Plaza Las Américas.”

Most Latino-owned businesses in Georgia are relatively small – with annual revenues of less than  $200,000 – and nearly half of them are mostly reliant on a Latino customer base, according to a 2024 and a 2018 study by the Latino Community Fund Georgia.  Even prior to 2025, “the challenges for Latino business owners are deeply connected to the immigrant experience,” according to the 2024 report. “Limited access to capital is a big issue, as many lenders see DACA and TPS holders as “high-risk,” making it hard for them to get the funding they need.  

Camila owns a furniture store at Plaza Las Americas, and for the past two decades, she’s also been offering individual and company tax services to a mostly Latino clientele. Many of her clients paid between $5,000 and 15,000 in taxes every year to the government, she said. This year, though, Camila’s seen between a 60% and 70% decrease in customers overall as compared to last year – both for tax services and buying furniture.Some decided to not declare taxes, she said, because they’re afraid of being tracked down by immigration agents. “Hay gente que, por ejemplo, me compra muebles y nos llaman y nos dicen ‘ven a recogerlos porque a mi esposo se lo llevaron.’ Hay personas que nos llaman diciendo, te conozco por diez o 15 años, préstame $5,000 o $10,000 $ y quiero ver si consigo un abogado para mi esposo, y personas que nos llaman para pedir referencias y ver si conocemos abogados de migración.” 

There are people who, for example, buy furniture from me, and then call us to say, ‘Come pick it up, because my husband has been taken away.’ There are people who call us saying, ‘I’ve known you for ten or fifteen years; lend me $5,000 or $10,000—I want to see if I can get a lawyer for my husband.’ And there are people who call us to ask for referrals, to see if we know any immigration lawyers.”

Camila used to have two other furniture stores too: in Doraville and in Austell, which served large Hispanic communities, and she had to close both and lay off about six employees. 

In another store, lightbulbs and papel picado (colorful cut-out paper banners) hang from the ceiling. Veronica, the shop tenant, sits behind the register, scrolling on her phone. She opened the shop of Mexican-imported goods in 2017 and has seen a 50% decrease in sales since January 2025, she said. “El año pasado estuvo difícil, pero este año ha estado peor,” she said. Last year was hard, but this year has been worse.

Veronica doesn’t sell basic necessities – and she thinks that’s why her business has been slow.  “He considerado cerrar,” she said. I’m considering closing down. When she had some medical issues earlier this year, she had to close the store any time she had a medical appointment, she said, because she couldn’t afford to hire staff to cover her hours. The store’s lease is up for renewal in June, and she’s thinking about whether to close entirely or renew just one of the three spaces she rents. 

For Veronica, the past year and a half has been the worst in her recent memory. “Como en la pandemia hubo los estímulos económicos, la gente estaba gastando. Para mí, ha sido peor ahora que en la pandemia.” Because during the pandemic there were economic stimulus measures, people were spending. For me, it’s been worse now than during the pandemic.

*This story was updated on Monday, June 8, 2026 to include comments from the management of Plaza Las Americas, which they sent 285 South on Sunday, June 7, 2026.