LOCAL BUSINESSES
A large portion of the San Marcos population is composed of Texas State University students, many of which leave town for the summer, which can be difficult for local businesses. A couple of local business owners explained what the impacts of the summer season and how they prepare.
Sundance Records, one of San Marcos’ long-running vinyl shops, offers a wide range of items, including used and new vinyl, posters, t-shirts and other music memorabilia. The vinyl shop sees a peak of student consumers during the fall and spring semesters, with summer sales remaining steady by locals and out-of-town visitors.
Kevin Kotara, Sundance Records owner, said although they experience a mix of customers throughout the year, TXST students make up a bigger percentage in their consumer population.
“My estimate is probably about 60% of our sales probably go to students, and it’s probably around 40%, maybe 30%, somewhere [around that number] that is just other people,” Kotara said.
From a TXST bobcat flag hanging from the window to the maroon-andgold- colored t-shirts, Sundance Records embraces the unique nature of being in a college town.
According to TXST’s student insights data, 40,678 students were enrolled in the fall of 2024 with more than 9,000 students living on the San Marcos Campus. Even with a loss of approximately 10% of the student population during the summer, Sundance Records is doing well. Kotara said it has been a busier summer than past years, and the focus has been on making sure popular items — such as posters and a variety of music titles — are available as fall approaches.
“I think one of the interesting things about being a retail business in a college town is … every year in August and September, there’s new people coming to town, and they haven’t been there yet,” Kotara said. “So, they’re exploring, and they’re buying things; … It is an added boost.”
Kevin and Michael Douglas-Smith first opened Douglas-Smith Artisan Soap Company in August 2023, offering handmade artisan soaps, bath bombs and solid moisturizers made right in the shop.
Kevin Douglas-Smith, Douglas-Smith Artisan Soap Company owner, said their handmade soaps take around 4 to 6 weeks to cure from the time they are made to the time they are put out, which means preparing for inventory to go on sale takes time.
“It is not like if we run out of soap, we can run back to the back and make more soap to sell,” Doug-las Smith said. “There’s quite a bit of planning involved in making sure that we don’t run out of soap, and that we keep the right amount of options for people.”
Douglas-Smith said they cater to everyone, and the summer brings an increase of locals and visitors ranging from Austin, San Antonio and even outof- state visitors. He also said he estimated students make up around 15% to 20% of their consumer population.
“We have found out what is happening [is that] a lot [students], before they leave, come in and they stock up; not only do they stock up on soap for themselves, they stock up on soap to take back to their family,” Doug-las Smith said.
It is San Marcos’ continued support towards local businesses that helps them, and other businesses, continue to grow, according to Douglas-Smith.
“They want to support each other — mom and pop businesses as opposed to big box, multi-million- dollar corporations,” Douglas-Smith said. “We wanted to be a small batch local soap boutique, small town soap maker, and San Marcos is perfect for that [due to] the people, the students, the retired people who live here [and] the working families.”
