La Isla del Encanto

As the slow economy on the Gulf Coast keeps grinding on, Erika Peña is making her move to Puerto Rico where she started selling jewelry at open air markets years ago.

In August, Peña plans to open her first Erika Peña Designs jewelry store in a ritzy part of the island called Guaynado. It's part of a plan to open 10 stores in the next two years in Latin America and Europe, backed by a group of investors from Coral Springs.

Puerto Ricans and other Latin American people spend more on apparel than their U.S. counterparts. “People go out a lot and love to get dressed up,” Peña says. “U.S. sales are slowly picking up, but it's been harder.”