Mission Entrepreneur Drives To Success

By:

Mission Entrepreneur Drives To Success

Dos Chicas celebrated its one-year Mission store anniversary in March.
Dos Chicas celebrated its one-year Mission store anniversary in March.

Cassy Rodriguez had what she called “the best job ever” as a driver for pre-production Ford trucks displayed at car shows and big entertainment venues featuring stars and celebrities.

The opening of Dos Chicas Boutique fulfills Cassy Rodriguez's dream to open a business in her hometown of Mission.
The opening of Dos Chicas Boutique fulfills Cassy Rodriguez’s dream to open a business in her hometown of Mission.

The job paid well, too, but the Mission native was spending weeks at a time away from home. It was a huge sacrifice for the mother of three young children. The tours to promote a new F-150 model or a Ranger pickup would last for months. Rodriguez flew home for a few days before heading out on the road again and away from her children. 

It was ultimately too much to bear for the young mother. She would leave the Ford Motor Company job, but not before developing a new plan for her future. Rodriguez wanted to own her business and base it in her hometown. She steadily put away money to give her the startup resources to launch a new local venture. Rodriguez started the online version of Dos Chicas Boutique in early 2019 while still working for Ford. 

The boutique’s style is western chic. From the start, online sales via Facebook, TikTok and Instagram were good and kept improving. Rodriguez added mobile sales in selling clothing and accessories from the back of a trailer parked at local, high foot-traffic events. The successes of all of those efforts were promising enough that Rodriguez decided to take the plunge. She left her job with Ford in late 2020 and opened a Dos Chicas store location in March 2021.

Rodriguez beamed with pride recently at her Griffin Parkway store in Mission in recounting the lessons learned from Ford and going out on her own. 

The Maci Collection at Dos Chicas is named after the business owner's daughter.
The Maci Collection at Dos Chicas is named after the business owner’s daughter.

“You try to be unique and get brands no one has heard of,” she said of running a business in a competitive clothing category. “I learned about customer service working for Ford. You need to do a lot for your customers. That’s the way it should be.”

Being There For Customers

The Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show was around the corner in March when two customers from Weslaco walked into Dos Chicas.

They are Instagram followers of Dos Chicas and had been keeping a close eye on the available selections with the big show in Mercedes coming up. One is a schoolteacher who took a day off to kick back and get the look she was searching for. 

“It’s what we do,” Rodriguez said in assisting the customers who drove over from Weslaco. “We have customers that come to us and say, ‘Can you dress me up?’ It might be for a livestock show or a rodeo or a country music concert. I help customers pick out clothes that maybe they couldn’t picture themselves in, but when they see themselves wearing it, they love it.”

Cassy Rodriguez and daughter Maci are the two girls in Dos Chicas. Their photo is on display at their Mission store.
Cassy Rodriguez and daughter Maci are the two girls in Dos Chicas. Their photo is on display at their Mission store.

Online sales are a must for most businesses these days, as they are for Dos Chicas, but the store location allows for more of the in-person interaction Rodriguez enjoys. Her banter with in-store customers appears to be effortless. Customers take well to her suggestions, asking Rodriguez for advice on styles, brands and fits. 

“Oh, that’ll look good on you, girl,” Rodriguez tells one customer before she heads to a dressing room to try it on. 

The salesmanship gene appears to be passed on to Rodriguez’s young daughter Maci, the other girl in Dos Chicas. When not in school, she likes to be in the store pitching in to do her part. The family affair continues with two aunts who work at Rodriguez’s store and are known by customers as “the tias.”

“It’s a lot of fun, really, dealing with customers, being friendly, having conversations, which is no problem for me since I like to talk,” Rodriguez said, smiling, as a customer walked out of a dressing room with an armful of clothing to buy.

Dos Chicas opened a Mission store location in early 2021 to go with already robust online sales.
Dos Chicas opened a Mission store location in early 2021 to go with already robust online sales.

Hometown Connection

The majority of Rodriguez’s sales are online, which she estimates at 60 percent to in-store sales of 40 percent.

Rodriguez is proud of all of the merchandise she sends out around the country while relishing the local footprint she now has with her store. She is achieving a dream of owning and running a business in her hometown. Rodriguez displays plenty of self-confidence but admitted to jitters when opening her store.

“I signed the lease on the same day I quit Ford,” she recalled of the store location. “I felt like, ‘Oh my God, am I ready?'”

Rodriguez, as it turned out, was more than ready, as two satisfied customers walked out the door for the drive back home to Weslaco, ready and soon to be dressed up for the livestock show.

Ricardo D. Cavazos is a Rio Grande Valley native and journalist who has worked as a reporter, editor and publisher at Texas newspapers. Cavazos formerly worked as a reporter and editorial writer at The Brownsville Herald, Dallas Times Herald, Corpus Christi Caller-Times and San Antonio Light. He served as editor of The Monitor in McAllen from 1991-1998 and from there served for 15 years as publisher at The Herald in Brownsville. Cavazos has been providing content for the Valley Business Report since 2018.

Comments