Mia's Flower Shop stocks up for Las Vegas Dia de los Muertos altars

Mia's Flower Shop in Las Vegas is preparing for a surge of customers this week as families build altars for Dia de los Muertos. Shop owner Jorge Santos is stocking shelves with sugar skulls, papel picado, and ready-made mini altars to help residents honor their deceased loved ones.

Santos began his career selling flowers on the street before opening the shop. He described the holiday as a chance to preserve cultural roots. "It's really beautiful, honestly, it's really beautiful because you preserve your traditions and you see other people doing the same thing, too," Santos said in Spanish.

Customer Marina Hernandez visited the store to buy supplies for her family's ofrenda. Hernandez, a first-generation American and Chicana, uses the holiday to share her heritage with coworkers. "So I have, like, mixed office. I'm Chicana, first-generation American. And it's important to keep those traditions and those roots alive," Hernandez said.

Hernandez said the celebration allows her to honor her grandmother, who instilled these traditions in her. "It's important to me to honor her for everything that she sacrificed, everything that she did for myself and my family," Hernandez said.

Santos views sharing these customs with the Las Vegas community as his version of the American dream. "We want to continue our traditions, which are very beautiful," Santos said. The shop is open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.