TYLER, Texas — It's been a long road for businesses in East Texas. With making changes and then having those changes become the new normal during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nine months into the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy is slowly rebounding in East Texas.
Scott Martinez, President and CEO of Tyler Area Economic Chamber of Commerce, says the region is bouncing back. "Tyler Smith County, our economy's proven to be resilient. We've seen our unemployment rate, I think we get back down to 6%. And pre-pandemic, we were under 3%."
Increased safety protocols changed how people interact at restaurants and retail stores, but if there's one key lesson learned on the business side, it's that work can go on outside of the office.
"You're seeing business meetings operating overseas — WebEx and other platforms that are allowing, you know, that interaction to take place, but not the face to face interaction and the travel that has been in the past," Martinez said.
New businesses are even setting up shop in East Texas. LaCrecia Steward is the owner of Lash Studio 214 Beauty & Training Academy in Tyler. She saw a need for eyelash extension training in East Texas and a desire to grow talent locally.
"They were having to go to Dallas to get their training or to get their licensing - everyone from East Texas was going there. So if we have one here then that keeps the money here and will also bring the surrounding counties here to East Texas to want to take the class," she said.
The academy will start classes in January of 2021, with COVID-19 protocols in place. Martinez says new businesses like Steward's are key to East Texas' continued success during the pandemic.
"You've seen, you know, growth in our health care sector, you've seen growth in retail, you've seen growth in other areas in manufacturing, distribution logistics, you know, that aren't necessarily as tied to the energy sector, as we were, you know, 30 or 35 years ago," Martinez said. "So you've seen that diversification."
It is growth that is so important as East Texas gets back to business.