Steve Cosgrove opened Dynamic Travel & Cruises in Southlake in 1983. (Bailey Lewis / Community Impact Newspaper)

In the early 1980s, according to Steve Cosgrove, the travel agent’s president, the only companies in Southlake were McDonald’s, Dairy Queen, Walmart and Dynamic Travel & Cruises.

At that point, Dynamic Travel & Cruises was sitting on the hwy. 114 at the only light, said Cosgrove.

The idea of ​​opening a travel agency was almost natural for Cosgrove, having worked for Frontier Airlines for several years until 1981. Two years later he founded Dynamic Travel & Cruises.

Later, in 1998, Cosgrove decided to buy a piece of land and build its own building, which moved the agency to its current location further west on Southlake Boulevard. Initially, Cosgrove said the agency was focused on business travel but switched to leisure.

When it comes to helping people plan their trips, Cosgrove says his focus is on helping each customer choose the “best experience possible.” Sometimes this means proposing ideas that are different from the client’s.

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For example, Cosgrove said a customer was trying to plan a trip to Europe for his son who had just graduated from high school. However, Cosgrove said the client’s initial two-week itinerary was “a trip from hell” as the client had planned that he and his son would travel to a different European city each day. Cosgrove revised the plan by expanding it and allowing more time.

“We’ll try to redirect you,” Cosgrove said. “It’s more about what experience you want to have there.”

Dynamic Travel & Cruises’ office has a travel agency area and store on the other side. The store sells pretty much anything you can think of on the subject of travel. Many of the articles are themed either with different locations or different airlines. Cosgrove said there was a strategic method behind the store.

“Let’s say you send mom and dad to Hawaii,” Cosgrove said. “So you come in here and book your Hawaii trip and then you walk next door … we have Hawaiian socks, airplanes. You can make a kind of package out of this. “

Cosgrove said he temporarily closed the store because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But now Dynamic Travel & Cruises is experiencing a boom.

“We’re better off now than we were in before the pandemic in 2019,” Cosgrove said. “There is a lot of catching up to do and people are spending the money to buy the nicer things.”

Dynamic Travel & Cruises – 2325 E. Southlake Blvd., Southlake | 817-481-8631 | www.dynamictravel.com Opening times: Mon.-Sat. 9 a.m. – 6 p.m., Sun. 12 p.m. – 5 p.m.