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'Bark in the Park' Raises Alzheimer's Awareness
Small Business Owners Face Soaring Lease Rates 08/01/12
Robert Guaderrama
rguaderrama@cbs7.com
August 1, 2012
PERMIAN BASIN, TX – As west Texans deal with soaring rent prices another group is finding themselves in a similar situation. It's not only residents dealing with the spike in rent prices, small business owners are seeing their lease rates shoot up, hitting their pocketbook hard and preventing aspiring west Texans from starting a business.
Renters are not the only people being hit by skyrocketing rates.
"The challenges that we're finding in this economy is the high prices of renting or leasing a location, many of the start ups don't have the capitol up front to be able to afford the high cost, we see a lot of the big chains coming in and they can afford that but not your mom and pop store," said Enrique Romero, UTPB Small Business Development Center.
One of those small business owners is Freddy Ortiz with "O’Dee-licious Cakes" in Midland.
"All your money is going in the rent," said Freddy Ortiz, Owner of O’Dee-licious Cakes.
Ortiz recently opened up shop but had a hard time finding a location he could afford.
"The prices are really high, double that I pay here," said Ortiz.
Ortiz says most locations he looked at were charging double than what he's paying, he says his savings is keeping his doors open.
"I’m saving about 40-50,000 over 5 years," said Ortiz.
Enrique Romero with UTPB's Small Business Development Center says starting up a business now is a challenge and requires patience.
"You sometimes need to scale it down and maybe become home based first, see if you can partner up on sharing space that's the best advice I can give to overcome this challenge that we're looking at right now," said Romero.
UTPB’s Small Business Development Center encourages any struggling small business or aspiring business owner to give them a call if you need assistance. They can be reached at (432) 552-2455.