MATHIS, TX — The City of Mathis has seen business slowly evaporating, according to City Manager Cedric Davis.
Since March, at least two businesses have closed their doors.
"The barber shop closed, a couple of other places and the ice cream shop has limited hours now,” GiGi’s Pizzeria manager Jose Salinas said.
Right now, at GiGi's Pizzeria there’s not a lot of new customers ordering pizza.
"I guess we haven't seen a lot of tourism go through compared to our other summers. We usually get a lot of RV people and lake visitors but now we're slow,” Salinas said.
At Lake Corpus Christi, the park superintendent sent KRIS 6 News the numbers, which showed that last summer, there was almost 62,000 visitors from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Fast forward to present day and that number has plunged to 50,284.
Bake A-Latte owner April Padrezas said those additional 11,000 visitors could have helped.
"It's been down and kind of slow,” Padrezas said.
Pedrazas and others in the Mathis community all point to one reason behind the drain on their local economy.
“Because they don't have the lake water to have fun and do their activities. I imagine it's affecting everyone,” Padrezas said.
Lake Corpus Christi State Park officials expect more people for camping season. A good sign for the nearby businesses.
