La Plaza Mall invites area families to a Back-To-School Bash on Aug. 3, featuring a fashion show and backpack giveaways. The bash comes one week before the state’s Tax-Free Weekend Aug. 9-11. The Back-To-School Bash will take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Grand Court. Radio United will offer giveaways every 30 minutes, with prizes including tablets and Simon gift cards. The first 400 children will receive a…
Isaac Smith felt more than the loss of business and the diminishment of revenues after a 2022 New Year’s Day fire burned his family’s 120,000-square-foot Matt’s Building Material store to the ground. “I still miss the old store,” Smith said recently, sitting in the new office of a shiny new 45,000-square-foot building where the original building sat for decades in Pharr. “I grew up in that store. It’s like losing…
Weslaco’s city leadership in recent years has honed in on a consistent message amid the community’s growth across several key economic sectors. The days of local residents having to go to McAllen to shop and dine are over, they say. “We don’t have to leave Weslaco anymore,” said Steven Valdez, the executive director of the Weslaco Economic Development Corporation. “We can stay home.” A business and commerce identity independent of…
Alisa Gonzalez and her husband Benjamin took their recent high school graduate to get settled at Texas A&M University last fall and made a poignant observation. College Station has fan stores a many featuring all sorts of A&M Aggies gear, be it t-shirts, caps, sweatshirts or bumper stickers. The Edinburg couple thought of their university back home. They knew it had nothing comparable to promote the Vaqueros of the University…
Nayelli Valdemar is a one-woman shop for now, a young mother who has aligned her personal values with a passion to run “a business I know inside out.” Only 25, with the energy of a budding entrepreneur, Valdemar embodies her motto, uno solo puede. “One can do it” is a general translation and is reflective of the work ethic demonstrated recently at her Funky Flower Shop in Mercedes, just a…
Harlingen Mayor Norma Sepulveda is known for making the rounds of her city and dropping in on locally-owned small businesses. In mid-January, she made such a visit to The Reading Turtle. In the mayor’s words, it’s “a cozy bookstore” and where she made a pact with her young son. “I’ve made a deal with my son,” Sepulveda wrote on her Harlingen mayor Facebook page. “Every time he completes a book,…
Roel Villanueva was enthralled with fireworks as a boy growing up in Mercedes. The Mexican-style palomas were his favorites, the triangle shaped firework known for packing a punch with their concentrated amounts of gunpowder and being loud enough to trigger car alarms in neighborhoods. Villanueva was just shy of 10 years of age when he didn’t flee the scene fast enough from a paloma ready to go off. It went…
It was an idea whose origins came from social media. Dinah Sanchez saw on TikTok where the sweet novelty of freeze-dried candy was garnering a considerable amount of attention and viewer numbers. She was intrigued by the concept of candy in freeze dried form. How does it taste? What is its texture? A further look around revealed there was almost none of this sort of product in the Rio Grande…
This week, avocado grower and distributor Villita Avocados Inc. in Pharr is making history in the produce industry, fulfilling orders utilizing specially made mesh produce bags that are 100 percent compostable. “We will be the first avocado company to come out with a 100 percent compostable, 100 percent plastic-free avocado bag in North America,” said Rob Ybarra, executive vice president of Villita. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the United…
La Plaza Mall has recently added Mango, TOUS, Abercrombie & Fitch, Steps New York and Perfume Gallery to its lineup of retailers. In addition, MINISO will open later this year. Mango is a worldwide women’s fashion chain from Barcelona, Spain, delivering Mediterranean culture and style. Mango focuses on fashion trends, attention to detail, and efficiency. Located across from JD Sports, Rio Grande Valley area shoppers will find at the retailer…