Edinburg building for a retail boom

EDINBURG – More than 50 retailers opened up shop in the city during the past year with a similar number projected for this one. Edinburg has been actively engaged in courting retailers for years.

It scored its first major project with the development of the Shoppes at Rio Grande Valley, the shopping center at Trenton and US 281 that is now the base of the city’s sales tax activity.

While the Shoppes is planning a 90,000-sf expansion later this year, it’s now part of a larger trend of development within the city.

Walmart announced it would open a third Edinburg location next summer near the intersection of Expressway 281 and Canton Road. With its development, Edinburg joined McAllen and Brownsville as the only Valley cities with three or more Walmarts.

Starbucks is planning its first two locations in the city with one store off Jackson and University and another at Trenton and US 281, licensing records show.

Chick-fil-A is planning a store across from the university, and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen is opening restaurants near the Shoppes at Rio Grande Valley and near University Drive and McColl Road.

Gus Garcia Jr., the newly appointed executive director of the Edinburg Economic Development Corp. comparing his city to Frisco, the rapidly growing suburb north of Dallas, Garcia said Edinburg is a "well waiting to be tapped" by retailers.

Paul Rodriguez, CEO of Valley Land Title Company, said Edinburg’s rapid development is helped by its evenly distributed population growth — with retail and commercial activity spread throughout the city — and its access to assets such as the University of Texas-Pan American, an expanding medical community and the future Interstate 69 corridor.