Polishing a diamond in the rough 

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Polishing a diamond in the rough 

“It is easy to overlook Mercedes,” Hernan Gonzalez told the board of the Mercedes Development Corp.  Gonzalez admitted he himself knew little about the Queen City until he became executive director of the Development Corp. a year ago.  Since then he has used the mantra, “Get noticed. Get considered.  Get commitments” to move Mercedes up the ranks of Valley cities.

Hernan Gonzalez is getting more people to notice Mercedes after installing 25 boots with college logos and based on a Rios of Mercedes boot pattern. (VBR)
Hernan Gonzalez is getting more people to notice Mercedes after installing 25 boots with college logos and based on a Rios of Mercedes boot pattern. (VBR)

“No one is going to go invest in Mercedes if we don’t invest in ourselves,” Gonzalez said.  Every town  in the Valley is pursuing the same developers and retailers, so the question is how to distinguish yourself, get noticed and attract development when Valley towns have so many elements in common.

For Mercedes, the first answer was to build on the legacy of its boot businesses: Rios Boots, Camargo Boots and Anderson Bean.

The Development Corp. commissioned 25 cowboy boots with logos of 21 Texas colleges, plus two Mexican universities, Notre Dame and Harvard.  Each boot is four-and-one-half-feet tall, hand-crafted of sturdy aluminum by a Weslaco sign company and built to scale from a Rios Boot pattern. Displayed on Mercedes’ main sidewalks and representing an investment of $50,000, the colorful boots have drawn visitors from across Texas and Mexico.

“I did not realize how attractive boots with college logos would be. People are passionate about their schools,” Gonzalez said. Photos of the boots show up constantly on Facebook and Instagram. Boot visits get tweeted.  As part of the boot and livestock show legacy, Mercedes also presents an evening of free country western music, Little Nashville, every fourth Thursday of the month. “You create enough joyful noise and you become a player in the market.”

Bringing people to Mercedes to see the boots is just the first step.  “After getting noticed,

Mercedes can present its case to be considered for a home, for a business. Our housing costs are lower, it’s less than a mile to the expressway, there’s less traffic congestion, and everyone knows your name in a small community. Why not Mercedes?”

“With new opportunities in the region, such as SpaceX and UTRGV, we want to show up on the radar. My point is unless you are getting new residents, you’re done,” Gonzalez said.  Becoming a desirable, centrally located bedroom community is an achievable goal.  And, he added, Mercedes has a unbeatable response to a major question of home buyers and renters: where am I going to shop?

To read more of this story by Eileen Mattei, read the October 2014 edition of VBR under the “Current & Past Issues” tab on this website, or pick up a copy on news stands.

Freelance writer Eileen Mattei was the editor of Valley Business Report for over 6 years. Her articles have appeared in Texas Highways, Texas Wildlife Association, Texas Parks & Wildlife and Texas Coop Power magazines as well as On Point: The Journal of Army History. The Harlingen resident is the author of five books: Valley Places, Valley Faces; At the Crossroads: Harlingen’s First 100 Years; and Leading the Way: McAllen’s First 100 Years, For the Good of My Patients: The History of Medicine in the Rio Grande Valley, and Quinta Mazatlán: A Visual Journey.

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