SAN ANTONIO – Guillermo Garza says he has had his restaurant, Guillermo’s, on N. St. Mary’s and McCullough for the last 16 years.
Unfortunately, Garza cannot say the same for a lot of his local peers.
“We can look at several restaurants that have closed within the last year. Burgertecca, great place, right? Closed. La Fruteria, right, Rio Rio Cantina, Blue Box at the Pearl, Botika, I can go on,” he said.
Just this week, Nama Ramen announced it would be closing after 10 years.
Now, Garza is worried that downtown construction, high inflation, and tariffs could mean the end of many local businesses in the area.
“We will definitely continue eating the cost of (of expenses) because we have to,” he said. “We can’t raise prices right now because not a lot of people are coming in.”
Garza says he and many other local downtown businesses think the area has not fully recovered since the pandemic, indicating a need for new growth and activity downtown.
“We’re asking for our community to understand that, ‘hey, we’re in this together, right?’” he said. “We need to continue to take care of small businesses like this, because this is what makes our community unique”.
Garza hopes for a future where Project Marvel is approved, a new stadium is built downtown, construction is finished and events like San Japan continue to bring new people to the area.
“We do believe that these conventions are great and Project Marvel especially.”
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