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83 Food Store
In 1997, Ana Leticia Ramirez came to the United States
from Mexico. A single mother of two children, she was
determined to provide a good life for them.
Ana obtained a job helping her brother with his
import/export business. After working for her brother for
over two years, she was able to save a little money and felt
it was time to start her own business.
As a child, Mrs. Ramirez helped her father run a
successful truck stop in Mexico, where she quickly learned
all about the necessary elements to running a successful
business. She remembered how rewarding it was to run a
prosperous business and dreamt of the day where she would
own her own convenience store in the U. S.
As soon as she could, Ana set out to find a small
conveniences store of her own and quickly found one. She
then visited The University of Texas-Pan American Small
Business Development Center in Brownsville. With this
assistance, she developed an SBA loan package and acquired
nearly 100% financing. Unfortunately, the seller backed out
just before closing. This happened twice. She was
devastated, but even more determined to get it done.
Ana did not give up. She soon decided to rent a store in
the San Benito area. She quickly built up capital and
rented a second location in the Los Indios area. After
successfully running both locations, she found out that the
83 Food Store was going up for sale and quickly contacted
the SBDC again.
With SBDC assistance, she developed a whole new SBA loan
package to present to Chase Bank in the Brownsville area.
This time the seller did not back out and Chase Bank
approved her SBA loan. Ana also injected her own working
capital. She remodeled the interior, bought a new icemaker,
and was able retain two jobs and create three more.
Mrs. Ramirez says, “I was able to realize my dream of
owning my own business, thanks to the help of Mr. Landez and
Mr. Gonzalez at the SBDC.”
83 Food Store is located in Harlingen. For further
information on the services offered by the Small Business
Development Center (SBDC) or the U.S. Small Business
Administration (SBA), please call the SBDC at (956)
292-7535. |
