GLOUCESTER POINT, Va. (WVEC) – Two friends and now business partners want to bring something positive to Gloucester Point.
Juan Carrillo and D’Shawn Wright hope to revitalize an area they feel is neglected.
“I want people to come into Gloucester and feel invited,” Carrillo said.
Carrillo is the owner of Juan's Mexican Cafe and Cantina in Gloucester, Newport News and Hampton. He's been in the restaurant business 25 years. Now, he's venturing into the grocery business.
He recently bought the old auction house on Route 17. It was once a grocery store years ago. Carrillo plans to turn the old building into a grocery market once again.
“It was very important because I feel like Gloucester Point has been forgotten, stuff up the county has been built up a lot, but nothing over here,” Carrillo said.
Carrillo said not only is he trying to breathe new life into Gloucester Point, he wants to bring more jobs to the area as well. Carrillo hopes to create more than 40 new jobs by opening the market.
“The first thing people see when they cross the bridge is empty buildings,” Carrillo said.
Carrillo also bought another building just a few feet away, next to the local post office. It's at that building where Wright hopes to tackle several problems in the county.
Wright owns “Body By D” gyms in York County and Gloucester. In a few short months, he'll own “The Wright Cuts Barbershop and Salon”.
There were 96 drug-related arrests in Gloucester last year. Wright says he's trying to come up with solutions.
“There's a big drug problem so we wanted to give young people a place where they have somewhere positive to hang out,” Wright said. “If you have nothing to do you get in trouble, so we want to give them options and put them around positive people because that’s huge!”
Carrillo hopes to open the market this fall. Wright plans to open the barbershop the first week in April.