College Station is seeing new businesses open and existing businesses expand

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) - As a slew of businesses close down, the Economic Development Manager for Grow College Station, Wende Anderson, says recent retail activity shows promise.

“We’re really excited about the growth in College Station,” said Anderson. “We actually trend higher than the national average in accommodations, food services, and retail.”

According to College Station City statistics, the city brings in about $40 million in sales tax revenue per year. Of that $40 million, around 42% of sales tax revenue comes from restaurants and grocery stores.

And while there have been a string of businesses closing their doors recently, Anderson explained that 19 businesses have opened in College Station in the last six months.

“We’re seeing growth across all areas, so not only in our accommodations, food services, and retail space, but also in industries like health care,” Anderson mentioned.

Existing businesses are also growing, like Stella Southern Café, which is expanding to help accommodate their breakfast rush when they can see upwards of 1,200 customers in one day.

Owner Michael Lair says they’ve seen a 20% increase in sales recently.

“We do an amazing job with the tables that we have, but it is always the biggest challenge to keep those tables filled and rotating throughout a busy Saturday,” Lair explained.

La Familia Taqueria has also seen sales increase in the last two years. The owners are in the middle of moving locations. Their new location is nearly double the size of their current one on Barron Road, where they say they serve anywhere from 3,000 to 4,000 customers a day.

“It was always the plan to relocate and get out of that gas station because we knew that we could do more and reach more people,” noted Sara Rodriguez, who is the La Familia Taqueria Manager and daughter of owner Lisa Ray.

Anderson explained that the city closely monitors what she called ‘retail leakage’ or gaps in the local market that cause people to go outside of the city to get what they need.

To combat people taking their money elsewhere, Grow College Station has worked to bring 16 businesses to town to fill in some of the retail market gaps.

“We work very closely with the Retail Coach to make sure that we’re looking for leakage and gaps in our retail market,” Anderson added. “We know Sprouts, having a natural grocer, was one of those leakage areas, so we’re really excited about that.”

When Sprouts comes to town, it is expected to take over the old Big Lots building.