Harlingen Business & COVID-19: Procured Life + Home

HARLINGEN, TEXAS (May 4, 2020) – Harlingen Business & COVID-19 will consist of a series of stories we are collecting from Harlingen business owners. As COVID-19 continues to affect all businesses globally, we want to feature our local entrepreneurs, companies, and businesses that are faced with making tough decisions, adapting, and embracing new ways of doing business.

As things continue to shift, business owners tell us how they are thinking differently when it comes to doing business and providing a service to our community.

Jared Castaneda, Procured Life + Home, 413 W. Van Buren Avenue, procuredlifeandhome.com

Jared Castaneda, owner of Procured Life + Home, made a conscious decision in March to close and figure out how to safely transition to a more “COVID-19 friendly” way of doing business.

“We wanted to take precaution and we saw ourselves as a non-essential business,” he said.

“We didn’t want to put ourselves and customers at risk – we didn’t know yet the effect COVID-19 would have in the (Rio Grande) Valley but it was what was responsible.”

Procured Life + Home has been open since May of 2019 and sells furniture, home and lifestyle décor. Many of the store’s pieces are crafted by local artisans.

“Everything came to a complete halt. We were just so used to doing everything on a day-to-day basis and having a sense of schedule and that being completely taken away… it was initially a shock and it leaves a lot of room for uncertainty.” – Jared Casteneda, Procured Life + Home owner.

Jared who already posted a lot of the store’s products on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram knew he had to boost their online presence and shift to a more e-commerce-friendly way of doing business.

“I think we will continue doing more e-commerce and have more than one method of getting our products to people,” he added.

Understanding that while things will soon get better, he wants to ensure that there is a backup plan in place if ever anything unexpected occurs.

After closing their doors, Jared decided to place all his merchandise on the store’s website. The task took a week to complete and he said that using the mobile payment company Square, allowed him to connect everything and even set up a website through the service. The company also helps its members set up a website and domain name.

In the world of small business, it’s oftentimes the owner who takes on the bulk of the work from finances to marketing. As many businesses begin to embrace e-commerce, Jared advises business owners to be patient and set a realistic timeline when creating an online store.

“We did what we had to and you find yourself looking for new ways to do something you were already doing.”