CATALINA FOOTHILLS, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Catalina Foothills has welcomed several new businesses in recent months, including BB Beauty Lounge and Teaspoon. Just this month Chill-N, Deserto, and Presta Coffee have opened up. Both Presta Coffee and Chill-n are in the same plaza, Sunrise Village on Sunrise and Swan.
"I've always had my eye on the Foothills and it was just overrun by all the Starbucks," said Curtis Zimmerman, owner of Presta Coffee.
Andres Castaneda and Claudio Wigartz, two of the owners of Chill-N, which serves nitrogen ice cream. "It's a trend that is growing and that people are drawn to," they said.
They are both originally from Miami along with their third owner who left Miami to move to Tucson. Getting to know the area, he chose the location strategically.
"Catalina Foothills would be ideal. There's families, children, high schoolers. It's not too far really from downtown," Castaneda and Wigartz said about their third owner choosing the location.
However, building their businesses has come with challenges affected by tariffs on stainless steel, which they minimized using on counters.
"The cost went up and we would have to spend a lot more money than we actually had to spend," Castaneda and Wigartz said.
In August, President Trump added over 400 product categories to steel and aluminum tariffs, with the products facing a 50% duty.
"A lot of the equipment comes from Europe. All that had tariffs built in on it too," Zimmerman said.
Costs to expand to a fourth location, he said, have gone up about 60% since opening his last spot.
"I tend to save for my locations but what happens is it just takes me longer to pay it off," Zimmerman said.
In December, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported prices went up 2.7% year over year, which is slightly lower than 2.9% in December 2024 year over year.
"All those costs directly translate to our cost of operations," Castaneda and Wigartz said.
However, they said their goal is to not pass on those costs to customers.
While many businesses in the Foothills closed in the past six months including Commoner and Co., Risky Business, and Borderlands Brewing, these new businesses remain optimistic.
“With us being people that grew up in Miami and knowing this concept since we were really young, we know how well it can do, being innovative, being something that you bring into a new market, we are pretty confident that that’s something that can help us stand out,” Castaneda and Wigartz said.
"The Foothills tends to have a lot of out of state businesses, and just to have a local business in this area, I think makes it unique," Zimmerman said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
——-
Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
----
STAY IN TOUCH WITH US ANYTIME, ANYWHERE
