In 1975, Fermin and Ramona Rodriguez purchased a small neighborhood grocery mart on South Zarzamora Street that had been operating since 1960.
The couple kept the name Thrif-T-Mart, but over the years they expanded its services, adding a meat counter with on-site butchers, store-made smoked sausages and chorizo, a tortilleria and a deli counter that serves everything from breakfast tacos to chicken fried steak.
Today, Thrif-T-Mart is owned and run by the Rodriguezes’ daughter Alma Cañedo and her husband Juan. Thrif-T-Mart survived the pandemic — including an unfounded claim of price gouging — and manages to hold its own, despite an H-E-B plus! located right across the street.
On Saturday, Oct. 19 at 10 a.m., the couple’s business will be inducted into San Antonio’s Legacy Business program, which aims to honor longtime businesses that contribute to the unique heritage, culture and identity of the city.
Other businesses that have been honored with the designation include Sutton-Sutton & Woodard’s Mortuary, Penner’s, Dixie Flag & Banner Co., Paris Hatters, Little’s Boot Co., Flip Side Records, the Little Red Barn Steakhouse and roughly 150 others.
Saturday’s ceremony will also mark a revitalization of sorts for the Legacy Business program itself, which launched in 2019, then lost a step due to the pandemic and staff turnover at the city’s Office of Historic Preservation (OHP).
Protecting legacy businesses
Such programs are becoming more popular as cities around the country recognize the value of longtime businesses in their communities and work to help preserve them. The city of Denver recently launched a legacy business program, and convened other cities to share best practices, said Charles Gentry, a historic preservation specialist who oversees San Antonio’s program.
Similar to other cities, San Antonio’s Legacy Business designation doesn’t come with a cash award. Instead the city offers marketing and promotional help to raise these businesses profiles.
The program will also connect these small businesses to resources they may need that are offered by the city’s growing small business ecosystem, said Gentry. OHP is in the process of reaching out to previously-designated legacy businesses, he said, to gather their input on how the program can better serve them.
Several of those that received the designation have since closed down, he noted, including El Torero restaurant, the Pig Stand and the Fig Tree on the River Walk.
“We realized that we’ve got to be on our toes. We want to help these businesses not just survive but thrive.”
Thrif-T-Mart, Gentry said, marks a new era for the program.
‘Finally on an upswing’
Alma Cañedo’s niece Aly Rominger, who runs the grocery store’s social media, nominated Thrif-T-Mart for designation. Cañedo said she and Juan were surprised by the honor.
“We didn’t see that coming, but we’re grateful we’re still here,” she said. “It’s really our customers who’ve kept us here. Our employees have been loyal and hardworking as ever, so I feel like we’re finally on an upswing.”
Saturday’s ceremony will kick off a week of specials and in-store promotions as a way to say thank you to their loyal customers, her husband said.
The Cañedos spoke near the meat counter of the small store, which they said is one of the biggest draws, along with the hot deli offerings. They purchase whole cows and butcher them on-site, Juan Cañedo said. “The meat is very fresh, so it’s very popular.”
The deli counter is a big draw for those looking for an affordable hot lunch to go, the couple said. And in the back of the building, longtime employees make fresh flour tortillas, which are sold in bags of a dozen and 25.
As for many small businesses, the pandemic was a difficult time for the store. Juan Cañedo said they often had to source products from unfamiliar vendors that were more expensive than what they usually bought. Several customers accused them of price gouging, including state Rep. Philip Cortez (D-117). The San Antonio Police Department and the state Attorney General’s office opened investigations.
None found any evidence of price gouging, but by then, the local media had moved on. “Those were dark days for us,” said Juan Cañedo. “But we had a very loyal following.”
He recalled a customer calling to ask if Thrif-T-Mart had eggs. “And I said yes, but they are more expensive, because we’re getting them from a different supplier. And she said ‘I don’t care, I just need eggs.'”
Cañedo said he often bought items from suppliers he didn’t usually purchase from, to help out those who found themselves stuck with supplies they couldn’t sell. One was tortillas cut into triangles, that Thrif-T-Mart then deep fried and sold in bags.
“I call them pandemic chips, and they’re now a best seller,” he said.
Cañedo cited good relationships with vendors as one of the ways the company has been able to stay in business. Pepsi recently donated items for their week of giveaways, he said, and Coca-Cola sponsored the large colorful “San Antonio” mural that covers one wall of their building.
“They had a contest to see who would do our mural,” Cañedo said. “It’s very Texas.”
Alma Cañedo credits her parents with giving her the training to be successful. She began doing the books for the store in 1986, about the same time her father built a larger store on the property behind the tiny original store. Her mother grew up working in her own father’s grocery store on the corner of South San Eduardo Avenue and Monterey Street on the West Side.
“I was blessed to be mentored by both of them,” she said.
Alma “is the heart of this business,” said her husband. “I’m just a buyer and I just hold keys.”
City Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia (D4) will be there on Saturday to honor the Cañedos. She called Thrif-T-Mart’s potato wedge fries “irresistible.”
At a time when so many small business owners are struggling to keep their doors open, she told the San Antonio Report, “I am proud to see legacy businesses on the Southside still in operation and attracting customers with their traditional offerings. Staying in business for decades is no easy feat, so I laud the work Alma and her husband Juan have done to keep her parents’ legacy alive.”
