Three on Third Street
n Three new businesses have opened or will be opening soon in Tracy’s downtown. The owners say community needs were a key factor in choosing the location for their businesses.By Deb Gau
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TRACY - It's always a good thing to see a new local business, but how about three in a row?
This fall will be a busy time on Third Street in downtown Tracy, with three different businesses getting established in formerly vacant shop fronts. One, Midwest Sleep and Respiratory Supply, will be opening Oct. 1. Just next door Minga's Variety is already open, and preparatory work is being done for a convenience store.
"It was a huge decision," Midwest owner Mark Seager said, but one he's happy with.
"It's good. People who don't even know me will come in and talk to me like they know me," said Manuela Avila, owner of Minga's Variety.
Choosing to go into business in downtown Tracy was mostly a matter of finding the right place at the right time, owners said. They could meet a need within the community and the region.
Midwest Sleep and Respiratory Supply began as an online side business for Seager. Seager, a licensed respiratory therapist, sold a variety of respiratory equipment through his website, including CPAP machines, which are used to treat conditions like sleep apnea. By cleaning and refurbishing used respiratory equipment, Seager was able to offer it at a much lower price for customers.
"There were a lot of people who kind of fell through the cracks. Either their insurance didn't cover it," Seager said, or they couldn't afford to pay $2,000 to $3,000 for a brand-new machine.
The "basement business" became such a hit that Seager needed a physical store just to help with storing inventory. Over the spring and summer, Seager has been renovating a building on Third Street, creating room for displays, offices and even space for a sleep testing area.
"When I started, I had no idea" how well the business would take off, he said.
Manuela Avila, owner of Minga's Variety, said she's always been interested in finding bargains, and for a while she had her own thrift and variety store at her home along Highway 14 outside of Tracy. But Avila said moving into town made things easier both for her and customers.
"It's a bigger space," she said. "We opened on (Tracy's) Crazy Days. There's been a lot of people who have come in, a lot of people have bought things."
Minga's has a variety of items for sale, from movies and handbags to secondhand clothing and knicknacks. Avila said she named the store for her late mother, and she and her family did the work to prepare the shop for opening themselves.
The building Avila bought for the store actually has two shop spaces. Avila's husband Adolfo Avila, who also works as a business consultant for the Southwest Initiative Fund, said the family is renovating the second shop to turn into a mini-mart sometime in the near future.
"We're going to wait a little, until we have more inventory," Adolfo Avila. Planning what items to carry means paying attention to what's needed in the community, he said. The mini-mart will stock a combination of American and Latino products, to better reflect local markets.
Seager and the Avilas are doing the startup work on their stores without help from loans or grants. That's unusual for new businesses in Tracy, said Tracy EDA Director Robert Gervais.
"Typically businesses do use some EDA funds in a startup situation," Gervais said. However, he said the EDA tends to be more of a "gap financer," offering additional funds needed to get a new business up and running.
The Tracy EDA offers both a local revolving loan fund and Small Cities Development Block Grant funds, and access to other resources for new businesses. Gervais said the EDA currently has about 18 loans out, with a total value of about $200,000.
Starting a new business doesn't necessarily mean spending a lot, Adolfo Avila said. The Avilas cut their startup costs by using their own labor to fix up the variety store and mini-mart.
"It really doesn't take a lot of money. You just have to know what you're doing," Avila said.
Both Seager and the Avilas said the low cost of the downtown buildings was also a help to them.
Both the Avilas and Seager said they were looking forward to doing business in Tracy.
"I've had a very good response from community members," Seager said.
Adolfo Avila said there have been enough curious passerby at the future mini-mart that, "we put up some newspaper in the window."
