TEXAS — After a month of cleanup from the July 16 flooding, one of the top tourist destinations in Kerrville is back in business.
“This was recoverable,“ Gibson’s Discount Center General Manager DougHetzler said. “It wasn’t easy, but it was recoverable.”
The open sign is back on at Gibson’s Discount Center.
“It’s been a lot of work,” Hetzler said.
After being closed for more than a month, Kerrville residents are excited that the iconic general store has reopened.
“People had been waiting, counting the days for this place to open up again,” said Jeffery Cheshire, a Gibson’s customer. “So, we could get back to buying our stuff here.”
Back on July 16, floodwaters pushed something heavy into the side of the building — ripping out the store’s air conditioning unit.
“Left a 3-foot hole, and that is where all the water came in,” Hetzler said.
Anchoring the air conditioning unit to the ceiling has been part of the journey to get back up and running. Hetzler says it took professionals a few weeks to clean up the floodwater — and that was just the start.
“Three to four weeks to get inventory, get all the stuff back in the store, count, reset, cause it was fish in here, man,” Hetzler said.
This is one of two remaining Gibson’s stores in the country, so Hetzler says permanently closing after the flood was never an option.
“This store has been here for almost 60 years, and the community, people around here, grew up with this store,” Hetzler said. “And we do not want to take that away for something like a flood.”
Tons of products were ruined when 4 to 6 inches of floodwater got inside the store.
“Every one of these little troughs was filled with water and mud,” Hetzler said. “So, we had to remove every bottom shelf in the whole store.”
In July, the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country announced a small business recovery grant of $5 million. It’s money Gibson’s left on the table for the other 100 affected businesses in the area.
“We knew right away there’s not enough money to go around,” Hetzler said. “We would rather do that and keep some of our fellow small businesses up and running. It’s just better for the community.”
Hetzler says the plan is to install automated sliding doors to make it easier for customers to get in and out. Once this wall is painted and the last shelves are reinstalled, Gibson’s is fully reset.
“You’re welcome, come back in,” Hetzler said. “We love emojis, but we need dollars. You don’t have to blow your whole paycheck, but spend a few bucks just to keep us going.”
Kerrville is slowly but surely getting back to normal, with Gibsons back in business.
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/san-antonio/news/2026/09/03/gibson-s-kerrville-reopens
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