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Tourists who enter the cozy Texas Hats shop at Market Square can immediately smell the aroma of newly made leather goods stocked from floor to ceiling by its operator Hugo Flores.
Wallets, purses, hats, and other goods from Mexico are in stock.
And just in the distance, tourists can also hear the heavy construction work on nearby Santa Rosa Street that has dragged on for nearly three years now. Only the music coming out of speakers at Texas Hats seems to help drown out the noise so tourists can find some Zen as they vacation and shop.
Flores knows it will also be good for business when the street work is done. He just hopes he is still open when it does come to an end because sales revenue is way down.
"Honestly, it's been down like 75%," he said. "We've really been in the red. We feel we're going to have to close the doors. I've had to fire our employees. I'm not making enough to pay them, much less pay rent."
Flores said the city told merchants the street work, started in the winter of 2022, would end this past spring. That got pushed back to October and now the completion date has been pushed to November.
He said he may can hang on until then, but it's crucial for the work to end before the busy Christmas shopping season, which starts Thanksgiving weekend.
"It would bump us up to at least finish the year," he said.
Flores said the city has helped him stay in business with grant money and rent relief, but he still wants things to return to business as usual.
Michael Shannon, director of the city's Capital Delivery Department, said the project to improve Santa Rosa Street, from Cesar Chavez to Martin, has been time consuming because underground work on utilities had to be done before work on the surface level streets and sidewalks could begin.
And the work was delayed by some unforeseen underground utilities' issues.
"It's run a little longer...we were hoping to be done in the spring of this year, " he said. But you know, some of that underground utility work, we ran into a few things unexpected, unforeseen that caused some delays. Things that had to be redone."
Shannon said the city just wants to get the project done in the next couple of months to open it up to everyone. He said the final product will be really great.
Millions of dollars have been spent on the street work as part of a bond program approved by voters. The improvements include new street paving, new lighting, new crosswalks, and shade trees.
