Moving to Brownsville (Austin, Weslaco, Rancho Viejo: crime rates, credit, house)

[alexei27]

Hi everyone...


Looking for some help. I may be relocating to Brownsville TX from Utah in October. My wife and I have 2 little girls we adopted from China and Haiti. I am looking for advice on where to look for a house. Salary will be about 85K...so from what I have seen we should be able to afford a house.

We understand we will be the minority since none of us are Hispanic. That is ok. I would like to avoid area with higher crime rates for safety reasons of course. Culture shock will not be an issue for us. We had enough culture shock moving from NY to Utah!!

Also...I have been told by more then on person that there is no bookstore in Brownsville?? My wife and I plan to open one someday...and Brownsville might be a good place. What is the small business climate like? Any area what could use a bookstore?

This is a great forum...thanks for any info.

[mitchdd]

Originally Posted by alexei27

I may be relocating to Brownsville TX from Utah in October. I am looking for advice on where to look for a house. Salary will be about 85K...so from what I have seen we should be able to afford a house.
Also...I have been told by more then on person that there is no bookstore in Brownsville?? My wife and I plan to open one someday...and Brownsville might be a good place.

Look for a house in Rancho Viejo. It's nicer and more peaceful there, just 10 miles north of Brownsville.

You've been extremely misinformed about book stores in Brownsville. There's Barnes & Noble, Waldenbooks, Bookbee, Last Chapter Books & Coffee House,
Latino Books R Us, Faith Book Store, and Middle Earth Books.

If you still want to open a bookstore in the RGV, then open one in Weslaco, where there aren't any.

[TexasNick]

Wait a sec! There are no BARNES AND NOBLES in Brownsville! Do you know something I don't know? Okay, yes, there is one, but it's way secluded behind the campus of UT-B in an area that no one wants to drive to anymore since there's no reason to do so.

Yes, please open a book store (Barnes and Noble, Borders, whatever!) in Brownsville as we REALLY REALLY need one. I keep asking my neighbors why there aren't any good book stores in Brownsville and they all tell me the same thing--most people can't read, high illiteracy in the area, non-Englishspeakers, etc. But, maybe now's the time to open one?

Brownsville is very safe, you won't have any problems, but the culture shock is different than what you think. Why don't you first come down and visit?

Btw, are you going into the nursing field? That's what 85k is paying in the area.

[teatime]

Last Chapter Books closed down, sad to say. The owners moved back to Austin. Starbucks opened 5 locations suddenly in B-ville and that was the death of the little, privately owned places.

Yeah, the "Barnes and Noble" is just the UTB bookstore; Book Bee is mostly for textbooks, too. The only real bookstore for popular reading is Waldenbooks in the mall. It's pretty small but the staff there are great about ordering any book you'd like. I had them order several books for me when I lived there. But the Friends of the Library have a GREAT selection of used books and I'd frequent their store.

Folks are right about the high illiteracy rate there. What you might have to do is offer something else with the books -- a lunch area, smoothies and exotic cold drinks, etc. -- to draw people in. Still, it's tough. Last Chapter tried a bunch of things such as entertainment and poetry readings but it still wasn't enough.

[alexei27]

Thanks everyone so far!!

TexasNick/teatime...we were thinking more of a children's or used bookstore. My wife would like to do something where there could be a reading hour. We definitely need to learn Spanish first. Selling drinks and snacks...or tea/coffee is along the lines of what we want.

With the growth in the are being so strong I would guess its only a matter of time before a big-box bookstore makes it way in.

It would also be the type of place where you could buy used books...then sell them back for store credit. Something like that.

My job is govt (meteorologist)...with nights and holidays it ends being about 85K. I am one of two finalists for the job...I should find out this week.

Thanks again!

[teatime]

Wow, I hope you get the meteorology job, too! Aside from a tropical storm or hurricane coming to the area or the occasional cold front, you'll mostly be dealing with hot and humid, LOL. I hear this summer has been rather rainy down there, though.

Anything having to do with childen goes over pretty big in Brownsville. It is a YOUNG population! If I'm recalling correctly, the median age is 25. The trick will be to make your shop trendy and an "in" place for those who fancy themselves the elite. They're the wives of the import-export bigwigs, the doctors, and the politicians. When you go out and about, you'll know them instantly -- they drive the big, flashy SUV's, always seem dressed for a party and have their hair/nails done, and their kids will be wearing private school uniforms. If you get their attention and business, you'd have it made.

Do you know what I'd do? I would offer exclusive, private, ultra-tasteful birthday party bookings for their offspring in an area of your shop on weekend nights. Offer a variety of storybook themes from which to choose and give each guest an inexpensive book to take home. Maybe King Arthur, Sherlock Holmes, and Gulliver's Travels choices for the boys and Little Women, Pippi Longstocking, and The Little Princess choices for the girls. The girls' parties could be a blast with a formal "tea," complete with finger sandwiches and nibblies served kid-friendly "elegant;" mini burgers or short ribs and such for the boys. Design theme-appropriate games and give little prizes. Charge the parents a flat rate per kid and take care of the details. But just do it on weekend nights because you'd have to close the shop.

The reason I'm suggesting this is that there are a lot of party halls and party places for birthday parties but none is tasteful. Still, they're busy and all they are is a place away from home to have a party. They'll have some decorations and maybe offer some food like pizza but the parents have to bring their own cake and do the games/activities. But if you offer a really well-done, exclusive service, something really different, you'll be tapping into a segment of the population that will compete to have their parties at your place and, in turn, you'll be attracting bookstore customers who will come back often and spend money. Plus, you'll be using your business space to make money at a time when customer traffic would be slow to non-existent.

Just a suggestion; one that I would have loved to do if I had stayed in Brownsville and didn't become ill.

[landlockedinmo]

did you move to brownsville? i, too, want to open a bookstore there. i think you can pm me, i'd like to know if any of your plans came to fruition. thanks!

[crystalblue]

is spanish a must in Brownsville?

[beaga]

Hi,

I dont know about a book store, ther is barnes and noble in Mcallen texas, 1 hour from brownsville. But there is no bookstore that I know in Browsnville. Welcome!

Originally Posted by alexei27

Hi everyone...


Looking for some help. I may be relocating to Brownsville TX from Utah in October. My wife and I have 2 little girls we adopted from China and Haiti. I am looking for advice on where to look for a house. Salary will be about 85K...so from what I have seen we should be able to afford a house.

We understand we will be the minority since none of us are Hispanic. That is ok. I would like to avoid area with higher crime rates for safety reasons of course. Culture shock will not be an issue for us. We had enough culture shock moving from NY to Utah!!

Also...I have been told by more then on person that there is no bookstore in Brownsville?? My wife and I plan to open one someday...and Brownsville might be a good place. What is the small business climate like? Any area what could use a bookstore?

This is a great forum...thanks for any info.