Since the stock markets opened one week after the terrorist attacks in Washington, D.C., and New York City, the Dow Jones Report is down eight percent, the Nasdaq fell 12 percent and the S&P 500 has lost five percent, but economic development growth in Bryan-College Station has not slowed, officials said.
The repercussions felt by local businesses, however, may not be known for some time.
The quarterly sales tax reports are not due for at least another eight weeks. “With the reports not due in for a couple of months, the best way to view the local economy is to just drive around,” said College Station Mayor Lynn McIlhaney. “With construction going up all over College Station, it is easy to see that things are
business as usual here.”
The H.E.B. grocery store, the new shopping center on the corner of Holleman Drive and Texas Avenue, the pharmacy near Southwest Parkway, and the road construction on University Drive all were planned before Sept. 11 and have not stopped because of the attacks, McIlhaney said.
“I believe the best thing that we can do locally and as a nation is to continue to rely on
our greatest assets: the people,” McIlhaney said. “If we as a community allow other factors to determine our financial future, then that is not the America that I know.”
McIlhaney warned that if the residents of B-CS let the attacks affect their local shopping routine, there will be far greater repercussions, and the terrorists will have won.
“The next set of casualties is going to be in layoffs and the companies and even communities that get into a financial binds,” McIlhaney said.
Roland Mower, president and CEO of the Bryan-College Station Economic Development Corporation (BCSEDC), supported McIlhaney’s claims that no signs of economic slow down have been seen since the attacks.
“No company since the Sept. 11 attacks have backed out or showed a lack of interest in the B-CS area,” Mower said. “The current economic situation in Bryan-College Station has more to do with the last six months or longer, not the past couple of weeks.”
The BCSEDC serves the cities of Bryan and College Station, and Brazos County in their economic development efforts.
“We give information to companies looking to build or relocate to the Brazos Valley,” Mower said.
Mower did speculate, however, that Bryan/College Station will see evidence of the economic effects of the attacks in the future.
“The rate in which the national and global economies filter into the B-CS area is slower than we see it on Wall Street,” Mower said.
Mower said B-CS will have to take a more proactive approach to the local economy to prevent any repercussions in the future. With signs showing the larger local economy still is growing, the small, locally owned businesses might not be faring as well.
“We dropped off in August, and really fell short in September,” said Jim Burke, co-owner of The Curiosity Shop in Post Oak Mall.
“August and September are normally good months for us,” Burke said. “But people are
being more conservative and careful with their money because they just don’t know what is going to happen.”
Burke encouraged citizens to continue their normal shopping trends and not let the attacks deter their purchasing consistency.
“I talked with other small business owners, and they also are seeing the same trend in their stores,” he said.
With the typically large buying months of August and September gone for small business owners, they now are looking at the fourth quarter to help bring sales back around.
“We will watch our orders and hope for better times come Christmas,” Burke said.