Downtown Brownsville is a happening place again. The once thriving central business district is undergoing a major transformation, and much of the credit is going to the city’s leadership and to the progressive vision of some of its residents. Brownsville’s downtown used to be a place bustling with people shopping for a variety of merchandise, ranging from fashionable clothes to ropa usada to household goods to furniture to gadgets of…
Are you interested in owning your own business or improving your existing venture but are not willing to take the risk because of financial roadblocks or other uncertainties? A San Antonio-based company with two offices in the Rio Grande Valley can offer advice for start-ups and existing businesses, and loans of anywhere from $500 to $50,000. Called LiftFund, the company makes loans at interest rates ranging from 9 percent to…
The Rio Grande Valley’s ubiquitous tortillerias and tamale factories are well known as producers of popular food products that are staples to Mexican food fans throughout South Texas. But for more than three decades, a Brownsville company has earned distinction as a manufacturer of a food product more familiar in another part of the world. Since 1985, Dipasa USA Inc. has been processing roasted sesame seeds into tahini, a paste…
When it comes to having a burger, most people think about fast-food joints like McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s or Jack in the Box. Others favor chains known for having some of the best hamburgers in the country, like Corpus Christi-based Whataburger and In-and-Out Burgers of Irvine, Calif. Some people might say that all beef patties placed inside a bun or roll are basically the same, but three of the oldest…
Palm Street Bar & Grill on South Padre Island used to be just a place to grab a sandwich, enjoy a spirit or listen to good music. Not anymore. The bar and grill, now operating under the name Lobo Del Mar Café, has transformed into a potpourri of entertainment, art, food and people under the direction of a large family group of entrepreneurs. Sitting at the end of West Palm…
Most funeral homes in the Rio Grande Valley are located in the more heavily populated cities like Brownsville, McAllen and Harlingen, with many of them owned by large corporations. But a few are still family-owned and operated. The small Willacy County city of Raymondville has two of them, down from three just a few years ago. Duddlesten Funeral Home and Good Shepard Funeral Home are both located along West Hidalgo…
Selling shrimp caught in the Gulf Mexico was a full-time job for Peggy Harris when she was a vendor on the second floor of Valley International Airport in Harlingen. Called Texashrimp, the business on the south side of the boarding area was easily seen by passengers wanting to take some fresh shrimp with them. After eight years, she sold the venture and embarked on a new and different type of…
Several hundred dentists provide needed services throughout the Rio Grande Valley, and one of them owns and manages the largest network of clinics in the South Texas, and perhaps in the Lone Star State. Dr. Juan D. Villarreal, a Harlingen native who holds a doctor in dentistry from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, has turned the business that he first opened in 1983 on Ed…
Some may call it a dying industry as technology keeps swallowing one tradition after another, but the only bootmaker left in Raymondville and one of a few in the Rio Grande Valley keeps defying the odds against dozens of commercial bootmakers. Armando’s Boots Co. has been producing the custom-made footwear for nearly 40 years and is not showing any signs of slowing down. The 77-year-old owner, Armando Duarte Rios, comes…
Location, location, location is a familiar adage used to describe a major selling point in the real estate industry. In today’s health-conscious consumer marketplace, it’s organic, organic, organic. Just ask Mike Ortiz and Mark Miller, two of three partners (the other one is Jade Murray) who are involved in growing, packing and shipping more than a dozen winter vegetables for some of the biggest, and smallest, supermarkets and specialty shops…