These 3 Valley Junction businesses are expanding

Despite tariffs and economic uncertainties facing Valley Junction business owners, several shops are expanding their footprint and adding new features to their storefronts.

The big picture: At least three businesses are expanding right now, and another, Tulip Bloom Boutique, already doubled its footprint earlier this year.

🌮 La Michoacána Mexican Groceries — The longtime popular grocery store and restaurant is building an addition in the back and expanding its kitchen to offer more foods and seating for customers, says Andres Castro, whose family owns the store.

• The 21-year-old shop is getting a major expansion, adding 1,708 square feet to its current 988-square-foot space.
• The menu will grow too, with more breakfast items among the additions, Castro says.
• "We love the whole street. Just the whole vibe about it," he says. "We lived here all our lives, my whole family."

🎨 Five Monkeys Inc. — The paint-your-own pottery studio already doubled its space in 2024, but owner Dina Bechman is ready to grow even more with the opening of a fused glass studio.

• Bechman, who enjoys creating her own fused glass projects, is expanding into the former Quill & Nib store next door.
• While Bechman's pottery studio attracts a lot of newcomers and special occasion visits, she wants the glass studio to be a hangout space for creatives to learn from each other.
• When it opens, she will operate almost 5,000 square feet. An open house for the new studio is March 22.

🥩 BW Outdoors — When Marshall Porter and his business partner, Mike Busch, opened BW Outdoors over two years ago, there wasn't a place in Des Moines where someone passionate about outdoor cooking could walk in and get expertise.

• Now, after operating out of a 1,000-square-foot space, the store is expanding and moving next door into a larger shop at 509 and 511 Elm St.
• With the expanded space, one side will be dedicated to barbecue supply and the other to outdoor kitchens and patios, where they'll help customers build out their kitchens, including countertops, storage and infrared heaters.
• A customer appreciation event in the new space is planned for May 1.