CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — It's one of those towns that if you blink, you might miss it.
Petronila is made up of roughly 100 people who are mostly farmers and ranchers.
At the corner of FM 665 and County Road 61 you'll find the town's only store, Cruiser's, a one stop shop for quick groceries, cold drinks or even a burger served up from the grill.
"It means a lot because we really don't have anything out here, you have to drive a pretty long way to get anywhere, nice just having something down the road," Cashier Timothy Evans said.
Behind the counter Evans knows just how much the store means, because he also lives nearby.
"Finally got bought again and reopened, the fire happened and we didn't have a store again," Evans said.
"It's just like your heart is in your stomach," part-owner Joe Cruz said.
At first he thought he would only be closed a week to make repairs. That turned into eight long months.
"Of course you don't make money when you are rebuilding and we were hoping we would start back as the way we were before we went down," he said.
Today the store is back in business.
"Breakfast, lunch and dinner," Cruz said, "Open seven days a week."
But he said it hasn't gotten back to the level of business they were at before the fire.
There's lots of traffic along this road in front of the store but not many folks are stopping in.
"Some people are coming in saying, 'We didn't even know you were back up,'" he said.
His only way to get to get information out, is through word of mouth and social media.
Cruz fears that if sales don't pick up, they might have to close the only store in a 10-mile radius.
"All the employees who work here live around here so we are helping them, the community don't have to go into town only 10-12 miles, but round trip makes it a 22-mile trip," he said.
They are doing what they can to support their six employees and neighbors through specials, outdoor concerts and even raffles.
"I put my heart and soul into it, two years and two months and I'm here pretty much every day," Cruz said. "Hopefully, hopefully it takes off soon, we can't keep taking a loss, it sad, hurts to shut down, when you put that time and effort into it," Cruz said.
Every customer that walks in, he says helps keep that open sign on.
"Everybody who knows me I'm not going to ask for a handout just want people to come by and buy something, a piece of gum, whatever it takes to get over the hump keep the business open," Cruz said.
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