Western Cuts & Market

Paola Murrieta thought carniceria work was forever in her past, only to open a new butcher shop with her husband

Tim Harty, The Business Times (feature photo also by Tim Harty for the Business Times)

As a middle schooler and a high schooler, Paola Murrieta helped out in her father’s carniceria. And like a lot of preteens and teens, when she thought about a career, the family business was dead last on her list of possibilities.

Murrieta tells the story of turning 15 years old and her father, Gumaro Murrieta, doing “a big quinceañera” for her on the same day that he opened his second carniceria: Carniceria Sonora 2 at 644 North Ave., Unit 3 (the first Carniceria Sonora opened in Clifton in the summer of 2001, Paola said).

“He would always say, ‘Oh, when you’re old enough, you’re gonna inherit this store, because I opened it when you turned 15,’” she said.

Paola said her response was: “No, Dad, you’re crazy.” And she recommended he leave the carniceria to his butcher, Jesus Perez, better known as Chuy, because “he deserves it more. He works harder.”

Paola admitted, “I wanted nothing to do with the business.”

Almost 21 years later, standing at the checkout counter on April 11, the opening day for Western Cuts & Market, 644 North Ave., Unit 3, Paola said with a big smile, “And here I am now, starting from scratch.”

Paola didn’t inherit her father’s business – other carnicerias operated in the space after Gumaro closed Carniceria Sonora 2 – but it became available when Baron Rojo closed in December  2025.

That led Paola and her husband, Omar Ibarra, to discuss the possibility that she once would have deemed impossible: They could open their own carniceria there.

And “could” became “did.”

Read the full story from the Business Times Website below: