Ramon & Cirina Jacobo: The Legacy Behind South Omaha’s Beloved Grocery
In South Omaha, the name Jacobo’s means more than groceries. It’s tortillas pressed fresh each morning, tamales wrapped in corn husks by hand, and salsa so authentic it carries a lineage. Behind it all were Ramon and Cirina Jacobo, a husband-and-wife team whose faith, grit, and vision built one of the community’s most enduring institutions.
Ramon, born in 1930, and Cirina, born the same year, began their journey far from Omaha. In Chicago, they balanced running a small grocery with Ramon’s decades in the appliance business. By the mid-1970s, opportunity and instinct pulled them west. Friends warned there was “no market” for Hispanic goods in Omaha. The Jacobos proved them wrong. In 1976, they opened their first store on South 30th Street, stocking shelves with food they knew their community craved.
In those early years, Ramon would rise at 4 a.m. to drive to Chicago, loading a truck with spices, tortillas, and products impossible to find locally. He’d return by midafternoon, just in time to restock shelves for neighbors who longed for a taste of home. Cirina anchored the store, welcoming customers with warmth, guiding the business with sharp intuition, and, quietly, helping families who couldn’t always pay.
By 1989, Jacobo’s had moved to 24th Street, merging grocery and bakery operations under one roof. What began as a leap of faith became a landmark. Today, Jacobo’s tortillas, enchiladas, and tamales draw crowds that reflect not just South Omaha’s Latino community, but the city at large.
Even after Ramon’s passing in 2020 and Cirina’s in 2021, their legacy endures. Their children continue the business, keeping alive a story that is both immigrant and Nebraskan: a belief that food can nourish, connect, and sustain community across generations.
For South Omaha, the Jacobos’ legacy is more than commerce. Through their store, they fostered cultural exchange, provided access to familiar foods, offered spaces where bilingual service was normal, and stood as a living model of immigrant family entrepreneurship. Their legacy is still tasted in every tortilla, welcomed in every aisle, and felt in every neighbor who walks through Jacobo’s doors.
Do you know someone whose story should be told — a mentor, educator, entrepreneur, veteran, artist, or advocate who has made a lasting difference in the Latino community? Please share their name and a little about their journey with us.
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