A recent Mercedes Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting at Eric Medina’s EMG Granite Reserve represented a milestone and the culmination of building up a business from scratch.

Medina got started in 2008 with a handful of employees and a few thousand dollars. His first business locations were in Weslaco and Progreso, starting with a base of customers and moving up from there. Medina’s previous work for an insulation company in the Rio Grande Valley earned him that early roster of customers and an expertise to do the work.

Today, his customers include UT-Rio Grande Valley, large builders and contractors, and homeowners across the region who turn to EMG for fabricating and installing premium granite and quartz surfaces. In late 2024, Medina chose Mercedes to open his showroom and to serve as EMG’s main base of operations. The chamber ribbon cutting in late September affirmed he made the right choice.

“It was very important,” Medina said of the ribbon cuttings event. “It showed that we’re part of Mercedes and that they (chamber) are backing us up. It’s important to us that we give back to the city and the people for supporting us.”

Being Precise

It had been a busy few weeks this fall as Medina and his crews did some around-the-clock work at Vackar Stadium in Edinburg.

It’s the home of the UTRGV football team and EMG was one of the contractors the university hired to get the stadium ready for game days. Medina described those days as hectic and productive in customizing the stonework to be used on counter tops and concession stand areas inside of the stadium. It was emblematic of the growth of EMG that it was hired by a major institution like UTRGV for such important work in getting its stadium ready for its inaugural football season.

Walking through his showroom, the doors to his warehouse-type structure are opened high with a view of Expressway 83 clearly visible, Medina provides an overview of the selections of quartz and granite that are slabs leaned over carefully for customer viewing. Quartz is a premium engineered stone that looks like marble but is more durable and requires less maintenance than natural rock.

Different varieties of quartz are mainstay materials for kitchen countertops and bathroom vanities. They are essential design pieces in new homes. Quartz are just as important design and everyday components found in other EMG clients. Baseball and football stadiums, college dormitories, and apartments are other clients and facilities that Medina lists as to where EMG materials can be found.

Picking the right quartz or other stone is the first step. From there, Medina and his crew will visit a home or commercial site to get precise measurements and gather customer preferences to devise a personalized bid. The stone is cut by EMG to the pinpoint specifications of the project.

“Treating customers right and keeping your word means everything,” Medina said of his business philosophy. “It’s the reason that we have customers since I started almost 20 years ago.”

Picking Mercedes

Being in Mercedes makes it a little more special as the base for Medina’s growing business.

There’s the great location.

“We’re in the middle of the Valley and right by the expressway,” he said.

Medina speaks of the welcome he and his family have received in Mercedes – and it’s where they now reside.

“I feel like God called us to be in this area,” he said.

In his words and energy, it’s easy to feel that sense of urgency and drive that Medina has utilized to take EMG from a startup to the success it is today.

“We always dreamed of seeing our business grow,” he said. “It’s has taken a lot of faith and hard work to get here.”

- Ric Cavazos

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