Category Archives: Retail

‘Fragrance Journey’ Featured At Boutique

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Abby Maciver, left, and Erica Martinez, right, are sisters who own and operate The Scent Sanctuary in Harlingen.

The Scent Sanctuary of Harlingen markets “a custom fragrance journey” with customers blending their own aromas to create individualized perfumes. The stylish boutique by Expressway 83 is owned by sisters Abby Maciver and Erica Martinez. It is the sort of niche business establishing itself among crowded fields. The sisters guide their customers through a creative process that utilizes the sense of smell to create a product unique to each client.…

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VBR Business Briefs

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Steven Valdez, center, the executive director of the Weslaco Economic Development Corporation, recently welcomed Mariana Linaldi and her family and their Southern Roots Market to the downtown area. (Courtesy)

Veteran Firefighter Leads By Example Ubaldo Perez joined the Edinburg Volunteer Fire Department at the age of 18 before beginning his professional career with the McAllen Fire Department as a dispatcher.  Perez would later become a firefighter with McAllen while continuing to volunteer and serve in his hometown. His willingness to serve carried forth in both communities. “When people need help, often during some of the worst moments of their…

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Craftsman Finds Calling In Leathers

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Ramiro Paz displays one of his decorative leather masks. Each part of the mask is handcrafted to create a unique treasure.

There exists an important difference between the many purses found in stores and those purchased from Ramiro Paz.  Store-bought purses, even those from iconic brands, are made of canvas coated with polyvinyl chloride. Paz’s purses are handcrafted with genuine leather, as are his wallets, belts, money pouches, and knife sheaths. His journey to being a craftsman took him through active military duty in the U.S. Navy, then becoming a schoolteacher…

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Mother/Daughter Duo Find A Niche

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Christina Lopez, left, and her daughter, Sydney Salas, opened Johnston’s Hat Co. in McAllen in October 2025. (Courtesy Johnston’s Hat Co.)

Sydney Salas graduated from Texas A&M University in 2025 and immediately headed down a road less traveled. Her bachelor’s degree was in public health, but she had another field in mind. Salas flew to Denver in May 2025 with her mother, Christina Lopez, who is a State Farm Insurance agent in McAllen. Lopez was yearning to saddle up and fill an untapped niche.  “I wear a lot of hats and…

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2026 H-E-B Quest For Texas Now Open

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Manuel Alvarez and his wife, Nadia Escalante, sit at their display at H-E-B offices in highlighting their Japanese cheesecakes. (Courtesy)

H-E-B is accepting submissions through April 22 for its 13th annual H-E-B Quest for Texas Best, a competition created to find the best Texas-made products. Qualified participants will compete for a combined $100,000 in cash prizes and the opportunity to feature their product on H-E-B shelves across the state. H-E-B’s Business Development Managers will select the top applicants who will present their products before a panel of judges selected by H-E-B…

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Boutique Offers Goods Rooted In History

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Leather goods made in the United States and Mexico are branded with the H.Yturria Ranch name in highlighting ranching elements found in South Texas.

The front gates of the Yturria ranches along U.S. Highway 77 represent a contiguous network of brush lands with a history that dates back to the pre-Civil War era.   The patriarch of the Yturria ranchlands is Francisco Yturria, a close business associate of Charles Stillman and who would become known as Richard King’s banker. The former is considered one of Brownsville’s founders and the latter became a rancher of legendary…

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“Shop The Island” Returns to SPI

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South Padre Island Chamber of Commerce‘s “Shop the Island” initiative is back Nov. 22 through Dec. 16. For every $20 spent with any Island businesses, shoppers may register for a $500 Island shopping spree. Every dollar spent locally also ensures a healthy and growing South Padre Island economy. Original receipts may be dropped off no later than the close of business on Dec. 16 at the following SPI Chamber member…

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Mid-Valley Florist Celebrates Expansion

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Nayelli Valdemar was ebullient on a sun-splashed September morning in looking out the windows of her newly expanded business. Valdemar’s Funky Flower Shop in Mercedes enjoyed a chamber of commerce ribbon cutting in mid-September to commemorate a doubling of the square footage of her business. The new floor space of Funky Flower at 400 square feet may not register much excitement at the H-E-B stores where she once worked. It…

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`Market Minute’ Flourishes Into Signature Event

Community Retail Comments
Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Jackson Street Market Days has become a “core event” for Harlingen. (Courtesy)

Photographs of the early days of Jackson Street Market Days depict an event trying to get its footing in Harlingen. It’s 2001. What few booths and vendors that show up at the street festival’s inception space out along a city block in downtown Harlingen. A now long-gone Lack’s furniture store serves as the primary backdrop. There were doubts back then that Market Days would stick in Harlingen. “My husband said,…

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RGV Rubs Spice Up Texas Cuisine

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The TXQ Rubs include products entitled with the area codes of Texas cities as well as regional catch phrases.

Lou Castro creates what his TXQ Rubs call “Texas love” in the kitchen of a north Brownsville home nestled by a resaca.  Castro’s kitchen serves as a laboratory for the mix of spices, powders and ingredients that make up his growing collection of rubs for meats, vegetables and Mexican pastas. The TXQ Rubs are now on the shelves of hundreds of H-E-B stores, meat markets and specialty shops across Texas.…

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