HATTIE: Talk to me about making your product, your selection, unique for the niche. How do you do that?

LUIS: Well, the selection--we have pretty much grown into the selection, always trying to keep up with new items. Trying to add--it's just like a trial, you know...

HATTIE: Trial and error.

LUIS: Yeah. Hit and miss. You bring new products. Some will work, some don't work. If you bring in a line and it works, then you try to expand on that category. So, you know, through the 30 years that we've been doing it, you grow into it. We have a little world of our own. Merchandising for us is totally different than merchandising for somebody in Georgia.

HATTIE: OK. Give me an example.

LUIS: It's kind of hard. There are so many products that for us, they're number one in the category. Once you step outside Dade County, those products don't sell.

HATTIE: Can you give me an example?

LUIS: A product like this for us in the powder category is, like, the number one. It's what we call a `loss leader,' where we hardly make any profit on it. And once you step outside Dade County, you can't hardly get this anywhere.

HATTIE: Well, what is it? Is it the smell?

LUIS: No, it's just--it's a real good product.

HATTIE: How come I've never heard of it?

LUIS: Really?

HATTIE: I haven't.

LUIS: Yeah, well, you know, because of the heat and the humidity down here...

HATTIE: Ah, lots of powder.

LUIS: Yeah.