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Updated: May 19, 2025 From the Editor

Editor's note: Small business tackles big issues

By Peter Van Allen

Maine’s business community is the tale of two economies: On one hand we have large employers like MaineHealth, the shipyards in Bath and Kittery, WEX, IDEXX, Covetrus and L.L.Bean, to name a handful. These would be the companies that are part of the largest share of Maine’s total workforce.

On the other hand, we have small businesses — the firms with one to 50 employees that make up the vast majority of businesses in Maine.

For any business of any size right now, there’s a lot of uncertainty out there. As we hear all the time, business leaders can cope with changes in laws, regulations and the economy. You can plan for those changes. The thing that stresses out leaders more than anything is the unknown. And that’s what businesses are facing right now.

For our cover story, “Trouble in Toyland,” Deputy Editor Renee Cordes talks to people in Maine’s $300 million toy industry about one of the cloudiest forecasts: the impact of tariffs. Even as we go to press, the issue is in negotiations. The national trade group, the Toy Association, was blunt about it in a recent newsletter: “Christmas 2025 [is] at risk.” The toy shop owner that Renee spoke with was a bit more stoic about the situation: “We just try to keep our chin up and hope for the best,” she said.  

For many small businesses, locating a need is the difference between success and failure. For the story “Filling a niche,” Senior Writer Laurie Schreiber talked to a few specialty businesses about how they figured out their place in the market. A Cape Elizabeth lumber yard had to decide whether it wanted to be a hardware store or the business customers sought out when they were “building things.”  

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