How A Thriving Small Business Community In Chicago Is Weathering The Impact Of COVID-19

CHICAGO, Ill.—“As of early March, before all of this hit, our storefronts were 94% occupied,” says Sara Dinges, Executive Director of the Andersonville Chamber of Commerce. “It’s something we’re so proud of—we have a truly diverse, robust small business community. It’s something that took years and years to grow.”

Located on Chicago’s North Side and registered as a national historic neighborhood, Andersonville was originally established as a 19th-century enclave for Swedish American immigrants looking to resettle after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. More recently, Andersonville has been recognized as one of Chicago’s coolest neighborhoods, most LGBTQ-friendly neighborhoods, and a prime example of a thriving modern brick-and-mortar small business community.

With approximately 300 businesses located within a 1.5-mile radius, Andersonville is typically always popping—from bustling boutiques and busy coffee shops, to old-school bars and new-school eateries. There are locally owned grocery stores and bakeries, indie art stores and bookstores, drag brunches and poetry readings, community fundraisers and a seasonal farmer’s market that feels more like a weekly street party. “Andersonville’s small business community is symbolic of vibrant main streets throughout the country,” says Alderman Harry Osterman, whose 48th Ward jurisdiction includes much of the Andersonville business corridor, “and right now our business community is suffering. On top of the huge financial impact of the shutdown, there is a public health crisis we are all facing with COVID-19.”

Osterman is quick to acknowledge that “from a government perspective, it’s essential for federal, state, and city officials to try and do everything we can to try and help these businesses get what they need to keep going,” but further notes that, “many of these small businesses were relying on relief to come from the federal stimulus and the Chicago Resiliency Fund, but that money isn’t finding most of these businesses—it hasn’t gotten to many of those who need it most.” 

In terms of rent relief for commercial properties, Osterman says that “at this time, there are no large swaths of funding to help support commercial property owners or renters. A lot of the landlords are longtime property owners facing immediate financial pressures themselves.” Osterman said he has personally encouraged commercial landlords to work with tenants to help them stay in current locations, but noted that he is “very concerned. I want to make sure we’re doing everything we can to keep small businesses open. If they close, it negatively impacts everyone. It doesn’t help landlords to have empty storefronts, and it hurts our city to lose revenue. And most importantly, these businesses are the backbone of our community. We need to do everything we can to support them through this period.”

Dinges believes that reforms in local commercial property tax rates will need to be passed before property owners can offer tenants rent relief. “Commercial properties are taxed at a much higher rate, and those rates are passed on more than ever before to the tenants,” Dinges adds that “until those reforms are in place, it’s hard to pass on relief.”

Both Dinges and Osterman praised Andersonville’s small businesses for quickly pivoting their business models to adapt and to support their community through fundraisers and in-kind services. “The Andersonville business community is incredibly resourceful. They’re also incredibly helpful and hopeful,” Osterman said, while Dinges noted that, “everyone is trying to remain as operational as they can while keeping health and safety their first priority.” She added that the Chamber of Commerce had recently started to hear from a handful of businesses that had received federal stimulus relief (EIDL and PPP funds), but that the majority of businesses were either still waiting or were turned down, and that “no one we know of has received funds from the city’s Resiliency Fund.”

Osterman states that he will continue to “have all the necessary conversations and do whatever is needed” to support the Andersonville small business community. “A big part of living in Andersonville is having great small businesses that hire local residents, support local initiatives, and donate to local non-profits. We are deeply linked in our community with the success of our businesses. We’re in it together. We really are.”

^{Snapshot Of 6 Small Businesses in Andersonville, Chicago During COVID-19}

The Coffee Studio (est. 2007)

Owners—Lee Corrina-Cano and Miguel Cano. The Coffee Studio is an award-winning independent coffee shop that specializes in sustainable and approachable, high-quality coffees and teas.

How many employees before closing/after closing? 11 people (not including ourselves), and we have not laid anyone off so far. Our goal has been to adapt and keep the shop operating, even if partially, so that we can continue to provide paychecks for our team.

Do you own or lease your space? We lease our commercial space. We are communicating with our landlord/property management company, but we don’t know what will come of it. We do know that just deferring some portion of the rent for payment “later” is not really a viable option for our business (as we don’t anticipate there being “extra” income later to pay it back later).

Are you able to stay partially operational? At this point we are primarily taking and fulfilling orders received through our website or our app, and customers just grab their orders and go. There are a lot of essential workers still placing orders with us, including health care workers, and we’ve received a lot of messages of gratitude that we are still here and open, serving our community. With shelter-in-place guidelines still in place, our sales are down significantly, though we’ve been able to keep paying staff and vendors, for now. 

Did you apply for funding from the CARES Act? We applied for the $10,000 Illinois Hospitality Emergency Grant Program. It was decided by lottery, and we did not get selected. We also applied for the $10,000 EIDL advance back at the end of March, but still haven’t heard anything (despite it originally claiming a 3-day turnaround). We also reached out to two of the local banks that we have relationships with once the CARES Act SBA PPP loans were announced so we could be ready on Day 1, and we did apply the day the applications went live through the bank. But the money has run out, and we’re still stuck waiting.

As small business owners, what do you want people to know? Now more than ever, people’s choices of where they buy their coffee or other needs will determine what our neighborhoods and communities look like going forward. We love our neighborhood in large part because of all the unique, independent businesses that make our community vibrant and diverse. We’re very worried that the chains will have better economic resources and will be able to weather this crisis and come out on the other side fairly unscathed. But the mom-n-pop places (or mom-n-mom or pop-n-pop, in Andersonville!) like ours are really in trouble. A crisis like this brings the issues to a head. Now is the time to remember that once a beloved business is gone, it’s gone. It will be too late to say, “I love that place… I should go there more.”

Women & Children First Bookstore (est. 1979)

Owners—Lynn Mooney and Sarah Hollenbeck. Women & Children First is one of the largest feminist bookstores in the U.S., stocking more than 30,000 books by and about women, children’s books, and LGBTQIA+ literature.

How many employees before closing/after closing? 11 before, 7 after.

Do you own or lease? Lease. We were able to make our rent payment April 1 and expect to be able to do so on May 1 as well. We have not initiated any conversations. I know that a large portion of our rent is actually commercial property taxes, and my landlord’s ability to work with us is, to a great extent, contingent on the city, etc., giving accommodation on those tax bills. The time may come when we will need to go to our landlord for that conversation, but I also know their ability to accommodate a break is likely quite limited. Our landlord is a small family business, not a big commercial holding company.

Are you able to stay partially operational? Yes. Fulfilling online orders that are placed through our website.

Did you apply for funding from the CARES Act? We have not yet applied. We focused initially on some publishing and bookselling-specific programs. We did not get any funds from them, so we will be applying for the next round of PPP. We didn’t prioritize applying for PPP due to the requirement that you need to hire back employees in 8 weeks. If it was “at the end of the crisis,” I would have applied immediately. But the “within 8 weeks” requirement seems too soon, too arbitrary. Again, we will apply, but it wasn’t at the top of our list for that reason. We have communicated our concerns about how PPP was set up to our elected officials.

As small business owners, what do you want people to know? As a mission-driven business, we’ve always tried to balance profit making with furthering our mission and building community. So we have some practice in considering both the tangible and the intangible effects of decisions we make. Now we’re facing a different kind of challenge than we’ve ever faced before, but some of the skills and instincts we’ve honed are serving us well. First and foremost I’d want to say thank you for the orders. And thank you for your patience with us. We’re fine-tuning as we go.

In the last weeks, we’ve tried to treat our staff with kindness and listen to their fears and preferences. In the end we were not able to accommodate all of them, but we tried and addressed as many of their needs as we could. We’ve also been balancing issues of public safety and staff safety with the need to keep some income coming in. We’re also trying to innovate. Just yesterday I was listening in on Sarah, my co-owner, talking with a staffer about ideas for virtual events. I led a virtual book group one evening this week. It was my first time, and there were some hiccups. But as each participant logged on, I heard, “Oh, it so good to see all of you again!” and “I’ve missed you—this is so great to be together again!” Are virtual book groups as good as ones in person? No, of course not. But we’re going to use all the tools at hand—or even try to create new ones—to tide us over till we get back to normal. Or reach whatever our new normal is. In the meantime, we want to get what value we can out of the tools we DO have. And by value, I mean connection and support. We are blessed to have wonderful, loyal customers. 

Regarding re-opening, we are not pushing for opening to be expedited, because that would be irresponsible. It is too soon. We need widespread testing so public health officials can evaluate our current situation. Yes, the immediate term has me scared for myself and my business, but I know the long term is more important. We have to be brave and focus on the long term. I want W&CF to survive to the post-pandemic world, because all the old ills of misogyny and ableism and homophobia and transphobia will still be there on the other side. 

Hopleaf Bar (est. 1992)

Owners—Michael and Louise Roper. Hopleaf is an award-winning, Belgium-inspired bar and restaurant.

How many employees before closing/after closing? We had 65 full- and part- time employees on March 16th, 2020. All were laid off the following day. We have no staff at this time.

Do you own or lease? We own our space. We have a mortgage.

Are you able to stay partially operational? We have been holding pre-ordered, prepaid, pre-packed sales of our bottled beer and wine stock at retail prices and growler sale from our stock of kegged beer. We are doing this either ourselves or with some volunteer help. It has brought in 4.4% of our normal revenues and the sales are at prices that are 25% of our normal profit margins. It pays some bills but means we will have little to sell when we reopen.

Did you apply for funding from the CARES Act? We have not received any aid. I am not sure why not or if we will in the future. The program was poorly thought out and poorly rolled out. Some of the restrictions to receive the loan forgiveness are unrealistic. Our business is too big to be eligible for the City of Chicago Small Business Relief Fund. The governor’s daily briefings are honest and helpful. There have been helpful city and state pauses on payments, and our aldermen have been helpful with information about available programs.

As small business owners, what do you want people to know? We’ll need their business more than ever when we are allowed to reopen. For a while, things might not be the same. There may be continuing restrictions that reduce capacity, limit bar room seating, require masks and gloves for staff, and with those limitations, we may not be able to offer the same menu items, prices or hours we had in the past. It may not be as much fun to be a Hopleaf customer for a while and we hope people understand and bear with us. 

No one wants things to be “normal” again more than we do…but most of us are smart enough to know that opening up too soon will only bring more sickness and death later. We all hope for more testing and a vaccine—soon!

Milk Handmade (est. 2012)

Owner—Hallie Borden. Milk is a clothing shop with a focus on ethically and sustainably produced goods, with a focus on local makers.

How many employees before closing/after closing? I worked at the shop myself most of the time, and had two part-time employees that worked 1-2 days per week. Since we had to close, I’ve been the only one working.

Do you own or lease? Lease. I haven’t talked to my landlord about a rent reduction. At the moment, I can still pay rent, and I know he’s counting on that money, too—especially because I lease two spaces from him.

Are you able to stay partially operational? Yes, I’m selling online. It’s been more successful than I expected, which is great, but it’s still not even close to having the shop open.

Did you apply for funding from the CARES Act? Yes, I received a grant from the SBA EIDL program. I don’t know how I got so lucky—I know hundreds of small business owners and don’t know of anyone else who has received money from this program.

As a small business owner, what do you want people to know? Less disposable income for everyone means less freedom to make responsible spending decisions. Purchasing clothing that is more expensive because it was ethically and sustainably made, or buying food from a restaurant that sources ingredients responsibly and treats its employees right—those things are a luxury, but they’re also crucial to maintaining a vibrant and healthy neighborhood. 

Small businesses are strong, but they’re built on the support of the community—when people struggle, so do we. Businesses who are doing things the right way often have lower margins and are less able to weather a storm. Meanwhile, huge corporations can capitalize on a crisis and profit while the little guys struggle. I hope that people understand the importance of their local businesses, and continue to support them after this is all over.

Replay (Andersonville location est. 2016)

Owner—Mark Liberson. Replay is a casual restaurant and bar that features (free!) vintage arcade games for patrons to enjoy.

How many employees before closing/after closing? Unfortunately, we had to lay off 30 people. We’re down to two cooks and two managers running a skeleton crew. You have to understand how painful this process has been for us. We have a family of people we work with. I don’t know if people understand how much struggling is going on.

Do you own or lease? Lease. My landlord at this location has not offered any rent relief. He offered to let us out of our lease early. Handing over my fully equipped restaurant does not appeal to me. But it’s not easy for anyone right now, so I don’t want to pass judgement. I’m sure it’s hard for him right now, too.

Are you able to stay partially operational? Yes, we are able to offer takeout and delivery. Delivery is our main source of income. If possible, I would encourage people to order directly from restaurants. In Chicago, third-party delivery services can take 30% of a restaurant’s profits.

Did you apply for funding from the CARES Act? We have not received any assistance. True small businesses like mine, that have less than 50 employees, don’t have a seat at the table or the banking relationships needed to get most of these loans. The hospitality industry—including so many small places that staff 10, 20 people creates a significant portion of our economy, and we need targeted relief right now. We really want to be here in the future, but so many mom-and-pop businesses weren’t even given access to these loans or would never be able to pay them back once they’re operational again.

As a small business owner, what do you want people to know? None of us are anticipating an easy solution, but we need to have hope. We need to keep talking about the potential for the future. Having hope is a critical part of the human condition. This is a very difficult situation, but we are a sturdy crew and we will come back from this.

Gus Giordano Dance School (est. 1953)

Executive Director—Amy P. Giordano. Founded in 1953 by renowned American jazz dancer and choreographer, Gus Giordano and his wife, Peg, the school is now in its 67th year and is run by their daughter, Amy.

How many employees before closing/after closing? I had 5 full-time employees and 18 part-time employees. I have kept all my full-time and part-time staff during this time.

Do you own or lease? Lease. The landlord has not offered a change in rent. They mentioned that if I need to pay late to call and let them know.

Are you able to stay partially operational? Yes, but we had to cancel approximately 50% of our business. Plus, we have seen a significant decrease in the registrations for summer.

On the plus side, our weekly youth and GUS company (age 5 to 19 years) classes have been able to run through digital platforms such as Zoom and Google classroom. My faculty and staff spent a week researching how to teach our classes virtually, filming material for all classes, filming dances for the students. The faculty has been teaching live classes from their homes to the youth students. We also reached out to others in the dance community and have begun offering free online classes to students all over the US and around the world. 

Did you apply for funding from the CARES Act? Yes, and we did just receive funds from the PPP loan. The loan only helps with W2 employees. I have four W2 employees, one full-time 1099 employee and 18 part-time 1099 employees.

All my employees have been paid as normal and I reduced my salary.

As a small business owner, what do you want people to know? It is vital for everyone to keep small business alive during this pandemic. Support your local businesses as much as possible: order from local restaurants, check websites to see if businesses are allowing online order/pick-up. If yes, buy items from them instead of off Amazon, etc. Purchase gift cards from local businesses. Local businesses give life to your community, they support local events, they are involved with the local schools, they know you and your family! Local businesses employ your friends and your neighbors. Local businesses care about the community.

This post first appeared on Forbes.com. To see the original, click here.