Happy Ending to Neverending Story

Mrs. Maria Isabel Garza recalls where she was 16 years ago: “I feel strange to be back here.  It seems that things have turned full circle in my life. I worked at this location as an employee for this same business.  Now ironically, I’m moving back in to the exact same location where it first began, but now I own the business.”

About two years ago, Mrs. Garza visited the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), a component of CoSERVE, at The University of Texas Pan- American.  She had some questions regarding the possible purchase of the business where she was employed.  The business was Neverending Story, a teacher supply store in the Brownsville area.  She always dreamt of owning the business because she so enjoyed working with teachers and people in the area.  She knew that the asking price was far beyond her financial means, but she still wanted to make an effort towards a purchase. 

She soon learned that whenever one was contemplating buying a business, the best buy was to make an asset-based purchase.  After careful evaluation through SBDC, it was determined that the only real value to the business was the name due to its important contracts already established.  These contracts are very difficult to acquire; the rest of the business had little value to Mrs. Garza.  She had been running the whole operation for many years now and had all the supplier contacts. 

With this knowledge, she was able to negotiate the purchase price to less than 2% of the original asking price, basically paying for the name and the contracts. She down-scaled the business in order to work out of her home, minimize her overhead costs, and save money to reopen a storefront in the future. 

After two years of dedicated efforts out of her home, Mrs. Garza was ready to open her storefront operation.  With the assistance of SBDC counselor Arturo Gonzalez, Mrs. Garza was able to secure funding to open her new storefront location.  Fate would not only bring her back to the SBDC, but to the original location of the business, which was now available for lease again.  In a matter of time, she moved right back in.

Mrs. Garza’s plans for the future are to eventually build her own location and to expand her services to smaller, historically under-serviced areas in the Rio Grande Valley, like Los Fresnos and Port Isabel.  “I am so grateful to Mr. Gonzalez and the SBDC for giving the knowledge that empowered me to make my dreams a reality,” says Mrs. Garza. “If it wasn’t for their counseling, I would not be where I am today.” 

To prospective business owners, Mrs. Garza suggests, “Take your time and use the SBDC.  Running a business is more than just assuming ownership; it’s about precise timing and patience.”