Jay Garza as a freshly minted Texas A&M University graduate relocated to California to chase his big-city dreams.

Living in San Francesco, Perez worked in human resources operations for Gap Inc. at its corporate headquarters. There were aspects of the West Coast life he enjoyed, but long, traffic-filled commutes became tiresome, and his family in Harlingen beckoned. His father, Henry, a small business owner in Harlingen, was perplexed why his son was applying his talents to make a company money when he could do the same for the family’s venture.

Returning home in 2003, Garza began working with his father and other family members at Henry’s Party Supply & Food Service store. He figured it would be something of a pit stop before moving on to Austin to pursue other interests.

“Twenty years later, I’m still here and I haven’t visited Austin,” said Garza, who is also a Henry, but adopted a work name “Jay” that has stuck since his return home. The younger Henry now runs the daily operations of a Harlingen business that started in 1990 on Lewis Lane, a business location nestled on the city’s west side between Business 83 and the nearby Expressway.

Henry’s is a 30-year-old-plus business that has adjusted and redefined itself more than once. It has done so again since the economic challenges of 2020. A business once dependent on big Halloween sales has further diversified its services and products. Henry’s has adjusted to a now different economy while dealing with the entrance of corporate party store chains in its market.

“They deal in bulk and they’re cheaper,” Garza said of the chain stores. “We function differently. We’re more personalized with our customers and will do custom orders for them. We figured out a different kind of strategy.”

The Halloween Phenomenon

Henry’s former dependence on Halloween was understandable due to its past successes with that holiday and its huge popularity in the United States.

Halloween generated over $10 billion in consumer retail spending in 2022. Only Christmas is a bigger holiday when it comes to American retail spending. Henry’s was a local leader when it came to Halloween products long before big box stores and online sales.

“In the mid-1990s, Halloween exploded,” Garza said.

Henry’s added fitting rooms for customers to try on Halloween costumes. The store expanded its parking to accommodate a growing base of customers. The quantity and variety of its seasonal inventory grew as well.

“There really wasn’t anyone else doing what we did back then,” Garza said of the Halloween market. “There were no party stores, no Internet, no dollar stores and the big box stores hardly had anything.”

Halloween became Henry’s biggest producing season and the store thrived. Then came 2020, which Garza said “changed everything.” There was a diminished Halloween season that year and retailers felt it. For Henry’s, a business whose origins were in food services, it meant going back to its roots while highlighting the array of services and products in its nearly 9,000-square-foot store.

The store has an eclectic but orderly and well-organized mix of inventory. It includes restaurant supplies, frozen food storage for small restaurants, religious candles, party supplies, and inventory geared to quinceaneras and wedding showers. Graduations and office events like retirement ceremonies and employee recognition celebrations lead to lots of helium-filled bouncing balloons going out the doors of Henry’s. Business is brisk even with new corporate store competitors coming to a growing Harlingen market.

Halloween remains a significant factor in Henry’s business mix but there are no more fitting rooms or an outsized reliance on yearly October sales. There are still hundreds of Halloween costumes at the store for would-be superheroes and Barbie admirers, to name a couple of the wide variety of seasonal attire at Henry’s. Halloween inventory is available for sale year round.

Staying Local

Henry’s is one of those type of local businesses that has been in its community for so long that it’s on a one name basis for many of its customers.

Garza said the store’s customer base extends from the Mid-Valley to Brownsville, with many seeking the sort of specialty items Henry’s stocks along with its willingness to customize orders to personal preferences and needs. The connection to community has only grown stronger since 2020, Garza said, as has the sentiment to appreciate businesses rooted in their community.

“There’s a growing trend to go local and support local businesses when you can,” he said. “Staying in the community, that’s important, and they see a business like ours as one of their own.”