Hispanic businesses expand in Woodlands
When Julio Resendez moved to The Woodlands from Mexico with his family in 1996, he quickly became friends with the only other kid in class who spoke Spanish.
By the time his younger brother went to school, he was surrounded by Spanish-speaking friends. Seeking safety and new opportunities, wealthy entrepreneurs from Mexico began moving to The Woodlands in the 2000s and 2010s, so much so that the west side of the township has been affectionately dubbed “Little Mexico.”
Driven by a focus on community, Hispanic business owners from across Texas and all of Latin America are joining those entrepreneurs as their businesses continue to transform The Woodlands.
Resendez first began impacting the community when he created Confi, a company that helps users find local Hispanic businesses. Then, in 2020, he was recruited by local small business partner Miguel Lopez to revamp the then-defunct Montgomery County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Lopez was an original member of the chamber, which began in 2003 but disbanded during COVID. The chamber reopened in 2022 and now connects prominent Hispanic business members from across the county at monthly mixers and other local events.
“It’s been challenging keeping up with the demand after we relaunched,” Lopez said. “There was definitely a need for us to be here and serve the Hispanic business community.”
The county saw unprecedented real estate growth as residents continued to move during COVID, said Ruby Rojas, a Richmond realtor and chamber secretary. And while many small businesses suffered or shut their doors for good, Rojas said she saw a crop of new businesses, especially within the Hispanic community, as residents reconsidered their life paths during COVID.
The Hispanic business community in The Woodlands area has expanded to more than prominent Mexican entrepreneurs.
Houston has the fourth-largest Hispanic population in the country, according to a 2021 census, and 29 percent of businesses in Texas are Hispanicowned. Drawn in by The Woodlands’ reputation and education systems — both Sam Houston State University and Lone Star College are recognized as Hispanic-serving institutions — Montgomery County’s Hispanic population has grown to 171,000, including many newcomers from across Latin America.
“There are so many businesses that are Hispanic-owned that were born in the last decade, the last couple of years, even the last year, and it just keeps building and growing,” Rojas said.
Conroe resident Zak Galindo was a barber before it was “cool.” Originally from Honduras, Galindo grew up sitting in old-school barbershops in Chicago, a market he felt was untapped in the Conroe area.
“I remember being 10 years old riding my bike to the barbershop on Saturday waiting there all day,” Galindo said. “I loved getting a haircut, I loved how I felt after I got a haircut. So I was always enamored with the barbershop.”
Galindo’s first started as a barbershop with three chairs.
Now, Galindo’s two locations employ 34 barbers, serve dozens of customers at a time and have become a home away from home for his regulars in Conroe and Magnolia.
“We’re sitting there talking sports and just having a good time,” Galindo said. “We’re cutting hair, but it’s like a social club.”
Like the chamber, Galindo’s focus is on building community.
When Galindo realized how much coffee his customers and barbers consume daily, he decided to open a coffee shop connected to his Conroe location. Galindo is now involved with several organizations, including the chamber, and gives back to local businesses and nonprofits.
The barbershop raised $20,000 for Dancing for a Cause with The Woodlands Stars this year, and Galindo’s offers free haircuts through its mobile Airstream barbershop once a month throughout the county.
“We’re building community with cutting people’s hair, we’re building all these relationships. You can say the same thing about coffee, it brings people together,” Galindo said. “We don’t necessarily want people coming in one time and that’s it. We want people to be lifetime clients and to become our friends and family.”
Montgomery County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce now has members from Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Spain, as well as prominent non-Hispanic community members, merging Latin American culture and The Woodlands’s local culture to form a uniquely welcoming organization, Resendez said.
“We haven’t had to have a meeting to discuss how to welcome our members and guests. It’s in our Latino and Hispanic culture,” Resendez said. “if you were to have all four of us sit down to eat with my mom, first of all, she wouldn’t sit. There’s two things you’re going to get: a hug from my mom and more food... and that’s what you get from us when you show up.”
In his two-year term as chamber president, Resendez hopes to bridge the gap between the local Hispanic and non-Hispanic business community and create an incubator program for small businesses. In the meantime, the chamber will celebrate its 20th anniversary in October and will host its next Latin Fever night, at Amrina in The Woodlands July 29.