SAN ANTONIO – The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the economy around the country, the state and San Antonio with many families and businesses still recovering.
The President and CEO of the North San Antonio Chamber of Commerce joined Leading SA Sunday to break down what the recovery looks like and what the future of the Alamo City could be.
“It’s affected a lot of businesses negatively. The pandemic means people aren’t getting out as much to go shopping, to go out, to eat as much. People aren’t traveling to San Antonio to take care, to take trips, any of those things. And so, it has caused a slowdown in some industries more than others. So we are still in a recovery phase right now,” Cristina Aldrete, president and CEO of the North SA Chamber said.
The recovery is ongoing but the recent rise in covid cases and hospitalizations are not helping.
“Until we can get a good handle on making sure everybody is taking every precaution, making sure people, as many people as best as we can get vaccinated, I think that will help boost that economic recovery for all of us,” Aldrete said.
Aldrete says it’s impressive how San Antonio has continued to grow over this tumultuous time with new businesses wanting to move to the city.
“Even despite the pandemic, we still have a lot of interest in that. Keep in mind, the north chamber, we just kind of get them (businesses) as they already have decided to move here. And so that’s when they contact us and want to find out more about the city and about where to make those business connections,” Aldrete said.
There is noticeable growth in numerous parts of the city, according to Aldrete.
“If anybody has driven on the South Side of San Antonio, there’s tremendous growth going on there, especially in the manufacturing sectors. You’ve got large plants that are being built out there. You’ve got Navistar, you’ve got the T.J. Maxx Distribution Center, you’ve got Toyota, that is still has always said that they want to be able to expand their operations there as well. You know, the fact that I think San Antonio is metro area, has so many universities and so many community colleges, that is one big factor that that is very attractive for businesses coming,” Aldrete said.
We have seen the expansion of the Northwest Side, the revitalization projects in the Broadway corridor and the South Side, and the future is bright for our local economy.
“I think it’s going to be a very, very diverse population. I think we’re diversifying even on the business side of things right now. San Antonio for many, many years was tourism and military. And now we have bio sciences, we have technology, we have cybersecurity, we’ve got manufacturing. So all-in-all, our whole footprint for the city and for the metro area is diversifying different kinds of industries, which is a good thing,” Aldrete said.
You can watch the full Leading SA interview with Aldrete in the video player above.
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