“With a couple weeks of warm weather in a row, everyone is going to have flea and tick explosions,” said Arthur Wright on a rainy March afternoon. Wright, who operates Advanced Pest Control Services with his father-in-law Gary Maley, was braced for the resurgence of fleas, ticks, ants, bees, termites and other pests that thrive in our semi-tropical heat and humidity. The company advocates integrated pest management, a holistic method…
McAllen-Miller Airport this year has finally captured the majority market share of Rio Grande Valley air passengers. Double digit growth in the last two years propelled the urban airport to the 50% mark, according to Director of Aviation Elizabeth Suarez. “The trend overall is growth on existing routes. It’s great for passengers,” she said. Several critical elements have converged to position the airport for strong growth and satisfied, repeat travelers.…
McAllen attorney Bobby Ramirez grew up in Roma in the 1960s and 70s. He attended a parochial school, ‘the convent’ in Rio Grande City, the same school his father, noted physician Dr. Mario Ramirez, had attended. “Roma was a great place to grow up, a really great place to raise kids,” Ramirez recalled. So when Ramirez and his wife Irene, a lawyer with a mediation practice, were opening The Ramirez…
Leaving the Expressway, city streets and even county roads behind appeals to certain adventurous spirts. The owners of all-terrain vehicles, Jeeps, dirt bikes and mountain bikes roam the wide open spaces that many people never get a chance to see and enjoy. In rain and shine, dirt and mud, they find camaraderie, challenges and good times when out communing with Mother Nature, far from the trappings of civilization. Texas has…
If you missed seeing the massive aircraft carriers Forrestal, Constellation and Saratoga towed to their final berths at the Port of Brownsville, you can still see these behemoths up close. At least three Valley companies offer entertaining cruises of the Brownsville Ship Channel, taking you past the unique ship-breaking yards and the carriers as well as the shrimp basin and marine oil rigs under construction. I boarded the Osprey at…
“Franchising is a model for doing business, a recipe for success,” said Stephen Maeker, who has held director level positions at franchises such as Mr. Gatti’s, Mobile Oil and Jack-in-the Box. He and his wife own a franchise, and he is an independent franchise consultant. If you research the 3,000 franchises in the U.S., you will find that not all franchisors are created equal, Maeker told attendees at a SBDC…
By design and intent, any very small business (fewer than five employees) has had to learn to work smart. The owners can become generalists, willing to handle all types of challenges on their own, or they can choose to outsource non-core tasks. Most rely on technology to operate efficiently and to connect to potential and existing customers. In fact about 23 million of America’s small businesses have no employees other…
Under the name Code RGV Academy, a group of local tech professionals has been providing free, introductory technology courses since April 2014, intent on building better nerds. Officially, the organization wants to spur creativity, business entrepreneurship and innovation by introducing Valley residents to the fundamentals (and financial rewards) of coding. Coding, if you have been out of the loop, is the current term for programming. (Programmers write code, remember.) Code…
After 60 years on the wholesale side of agriculture, the Holbrook family last year crossed over into retail when they acquired Klement’s Grove and Country Store, a well-known Taylor Road farm stand at McAllen’s western limits. Now operating as Earth Born, the store provides an outlet for the family’s organic vegetables and citrus, which are grown, harvested, packed and shipped as South Tex Organics. The organic vegetables have been marketed…
Back in the Valley’s early days, some businesses customarily brought their goods and services to their customers’ homes and businesses. In 1910 McAllen, for example, residents living on Main Street would hang a sheet on their porch if they wanted Dr. Frank Osborn to stop in for a house call. Fifty years later, ice cream trucks, pizza delivery cars and door-to-door peddlers were the final vestiges of house calls. Today,…