New Rock Hill bakery offers Mexican breads, cakes and pastries — plus snow cones

A new Mexican bakery is now open in Rock Hill, featuring a selection of cakes and pastries, bread, snacks and snow cones.

La Estrella Pasteleria is located on Mount Gallant Road at the Mount Gallant Plaza between Cherry and Celanese roads. The pastry shop is owned by 54-year-old Raquel Estrada, who moved to Rock Hill back in January for a fresh start and to be closer to her family.

“I’m really happy,” Estrada said. “For a long time, I’ve been really trying to get this business open. It’s like a dream come true for me.”

But the restaurant business is not a new venture for Estrada. She’s been working in the food industry for 35 years, inspired by her father, who sold homemade Mexican bread when she was a kid in Mexico.

Before moving to Rock Hill, Estrada ran a similar restaurant in Colorado Springs, Colorado, before selling it to new ownership.

Estrada started up the business again after moving to Rock Hill. She began selling homemade bread and cakes from the house of her eldest daughter, Michelle Fuentes.

Now, the family has a bakery again, and everyone is chipping in to help, including Estrada’s youngest daughter, Lauren Ruby Estrada, who traveled two hours from North Carolina to help with the first few weeks of opening.

“Everyone for the past six months was coming over and getting the bread (and cakes) from (my mom) ... but she decided that she was going to open a business here,” Lauren Estrada said. “So she decided to do all of this, just like how we did it in Colorado.”

A small amount of seating at La Estrella Pasteleria is available.

La Estrella Pasteleria

Location: 1204 Mt Gallant Rd #3, Rock Hill, SC 29732

Cuisine: Mexican bread, snacks, pastries

Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Instagram: @laestrellapasteleria