From the Editor: With feet to the fire, small businesses get stronger
In the past year, small businesses in Maine weathered quarantines, shutdowns, mandates of all kinds. Many dealt with a loss of revenue and an even more significant loss of employees.They adapted their business to online ordering and curbside pickup, often investing dollars they didn’t necessarily have to spend. They scrambled to apply for Paycheck Protection Program relief.
Yet if those businesses survived 2020 — if they’re still standing today — they’re likely stronger than they were a year ago.
This focus on small business has a range of stories not only of survival, but change and growth.
In a round-up looking at different businesses, Laurie Schreiber talks to the captains of a tall ship whose home port is Rockland, the owners of a general store in Machias, the partners in a Cape Elizabeth lumber yard that started during the pandemic and others. See “Small businesses keep their cool,” which starts on Page 14.
Food trucks have seen growing popularity in recent years, but Maine is seeing a particular surge, with restaurant owners and entrepreneurs seeing the trucks as an affordable alternative to brick-and-mortar eateries. See Renee Cordes’ story, “Hot wheels,” on Page 20.
Like the businesses they represent, chambers of commerce have had to get creative to overcome the loss of events revenue in the past year. Jessica Hall talks to chamber heads around the state to see how they’ve responded. See “Chambers shift focus to stay relevant” on Page 24.
A lifeline for startups and small operations, Maine’s Small Business Development Centers, more than doubled its client list last year, as Maureen Milliken reports. See Page 28.
This issue also has lists of SBA loans (Page 27) and FAME loans (Page 38).
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