It’s Small Business Week and in the City of Kingsville, small businesses make up 80% of the thousand businesses in the city. According to the Kingsville Chamber of Commerce, small businesses make up 8,700 jobs in the local workforce.
“That’s about 68% of our local workforce. They say small businesses are the backbone of the community and that is absolutely here in the City of Kingsville,” President of the Kingsville Chamber of Commerce Manny Salazar said.
In 2023, local businesses generated 6.5 million dollars in sales tax, which Salazar said is a 28% increase from 2022. That money goes towards public safety and roads.
“Inflation has hit Kingsville hard as it has many communities, and so that money is really helping us maintain the level of services that were able to provide to the residents here,” Salazar said.
One business that’s helping continue to circulate money in the economy is Beef and Bones Meat Market.
Owner Charlie Williams and his wife started the business after COVID hit and he lost his job.
“We had to take a nice hard look to see what we wanted to do in the future. We could either wait and see how long until this thing blows over or do something that I wanted to do and this is something I’ve always wanted to do,” Williams said.
The business has been in the community for four years now and Williams said they do what they can to give back to those who help them out.
“Small businesses, they are the backbone of any community. It just makes sense for us to help. Whether its a gift card donation, a meat donation, or just our time, we are the first to be there,” Williams said.
Beef and Bones Meat Market also stock their shelves with locally produced products.
“We try our hardest to try to find local cooks and bakers to sell here in our meat shop…to give you an idea our baked goods are out of Kingsville, our beef jerky is out of Kingsville. We’re happy to do that for our customers and for people who live here in our town,” Williams said.
But local businesses' impact goes beyond just helping the economy and other local shops. They also help students.
“The local university cycles interns through our store. We have three currently and will be taking on another two. These young students are animal major degrees and are learning what it’s like to work in a retail setting and deal with customers and decide whether or not this is the path they would like to take in agriculture,” Williams said.
And for Texas A&M University-Kingsville senior Edgar Cortez, that opportunity changed his life.
“I was planning to go to the range and wildlife route but when I started getting into meat science more and this internship it kind of just flipped everything around because I noticed this is something I liked way more than range and wildlife. Working here is just a big impact for me in terms of my education,” Cortez said.
Attracting more local businesses shouldn’t be a problem for the city. With the development of King’s Plaza, there’s another 12-14 businesses heading the city’s way.
“The city is hyper-focused on creating a better place for people to live and work and to raise a family. Kingsville really is going to be the community of choice. We’ve seen the growth, we’ve seen the major projects coming to the community and those will only bolster what our small businesses are able to do. It makes it exciting when you can work on things that run the gamut from large industrial developments to small restaurants and boutiques. We’re a small town, we see each other at church, at the grocery store, they ask how you’re kids are doing, and that makes you want to support them more,” Salazar said.
Salazar and Williams encourage everyone to celebrate Small Business Week and continue to shop local.
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