REFLECTIONS ON COVID-19 PANDEMIC: Last year put small businesses on 'emotional roller coaster'

Much-needed support for small businesses has ballooned throughout both the state and the country over a year of the pandemic. "Shop local" and "support small businesses" were and are phrases seen throughout countless communities. This push to buy from local stores rather than big-box outlets, get gift cards from a variety of establishments and stop for takeout from hometown restaurants became more important than ever as smaller establishments fought to stay alive during COVID-19 shutdowns. Now as COVID-19 cases continue to decrease statewide and the vaccine is just over a week away from being available to all Ohioans older than 16, business owners are finally beginning to see a light at the end of a very long tunnel and reflect on this past year. "It was more downs than ups, but it was up and down," Brandon Lambert, owner of Geeked Out Pub and Grille, said of the past year. "Started out with a lot of apprehension and uncertainty about what the future held and, in the summertime, we eased up a little bit. With that came a lot of ups and downs as well. "It's definitely been an emotional roller coaster." Lambert said St. Patrick's Day celebrations earlier this week were promising signs as not only were more businesses open than during this time last year, but also more people were out. "People who were kind of on edge about if they wanted to go out or not for the last year, maybe they were erring on the side of caution, a lot of those people came out," Lambert said. "It's a sign that we really are at the end of the tunnel and coming to the end of this thing." Fighting to keep people employed Brunswick's Geeked Out was one of countless businesses that benefited from Paycheck Protection Program loans given out by the federal government. Lambert said the business received the first one, which helped him bring back employees that he was forced to furlough and keep them paid for nearly two months. Grant Aungst, Brunswick's community and economic development director, didn't mince words when talking about the importance of PPP loans to local businesses such as Geeked Out. "Flat out, businesses that applied and received that first round of the PPP, the majority of them are here because of the PPP," Aungst said. "That covers the gambit. That kept people employed. It's really important to a community and an ecosystem that builds on top of each other. The system doesn't work without people working." Another PPP recipient last year was Foundry Social in Medina, 333 Foundry St. Steve Madden, a co-owner of Foundry Social — which has numerous offerings including go-karts, cornhole, duckpin bowling and a bar and restaurant — said the loans were "a major help to us." "Being shut down, we still were incurring expenses even with nobody in the building," Madden said. "Having just opened the Foundry side, there was a lot of unknowns and having a little bit of peace of mind once we got the first round of PPP was very critical to our success and the continued morale that we had as a group." Opening during a pandemic Foundry Social opened in November 2019, just four months before the pandemic hit Ohio. In October, the location opened MAD (Make A Difference) Brewing Co. inside its building. During the last year, several other businesses in Medina opened as well including Ohio Valley Pizza Co., Sweets and Geeks, and QuickMed Urgent Care. "What that comes down to is having faith in your team," Madden said of the MAD Brewing opening. "We have great people that work over there so we were able to rely on them to make sure that that all got put together properly. "As an executive team, we all had the same mindset, which is, 'We have to keep moving forward even though this pandemic is financially difficult for us. If we can keep moving forward and get the brewery open, it's one step forward where most of last year was two steps back.'" Medina wasn't the only area that saw growth in spite of the pandemic. Brunswick welcomed numerous new businesses, highlighted by Chick-fil-A, Jiffy Lube and the moving/opening of Basket Galore in the city. Aungst said last March when the pandemic was in its infancy, the expectation was that 2020 was going to be a planning year. Instead, he said that while there were still some "severe struggles," the resiliency of Brunswick business was put on display. Businesses turn corner, hunt for employees One crucial part of those successes was what Aungst called the "multiplier effect" with Brunswick residents opening businesses in the city and putting money back into the business and the city. The issue now, Aungst said, with businesses thriving is the need for employees in nearly all areas in the city. "One of the local business owners put it very succinctly, which was, 'We need more bodies,'" Aungst said. "We need more people to understand that we need people that can show up every day, do their job, be productive, have a career (and) can look at manufacturing, (which is) a very broad term for many different things that take place in any industrial park these days. "There are really high-quality jobs that are really stable and really steady and have the opportunity to work for long periods of time and growth within that organization. There are people out there who need a job that aren't taking advantage of (those opportunities). We have a number of businesses that are hiring across the board, and that's a good thing." Another business that not only opened during the pandemic but also did so in the midst of the state's second case spike was Sir Troy's Toy Kingdom in Medina, 4959 Grande Shops Ave. Ken Cefaratti, manager of Sir Troy's, said the original plan was to open in 2019, but delays and the pandemic continued to push them back. Once Pier One closed its location in the Medina Grande Shops plaza, ownership jumped on it and opened its doors on Nov. 1. Cefaratti praised the support of the community for coming out and buying toys, even so close to Christmas after many early shoppers probably already had their shopping done. And while the store hasn't been around for the entirety of the pandemic, Cefaratti said the business's flexibility during the second spike and adjusting to health and safety guidelines has been one of its strong suits. "It was crazy but you just had to roll with it," Cefaratti said. "We had a person stay up (to date) on it and we just kept changing. That's the key. The businesses that didn't change and adapt, they're gone. We immediately started doing curbside (pickup), shipping and online stuff. We went with what the rules were." Like Lambert and Madden, Cefaratti is hopeful that with the vaccine becoming more readily available and cases dropping statewide, his and many other businesses will be able to return to some sort of normalcy and that shoppers will once again feel safe coming out. "Hopefully the vaccines go better and they get out there and we can relax some of the rules and keep moving along," he said. "Hopefully people can come out and feel safe coming out. That's the only thing we can hope for. Right now, it seems to be going the good way. "We're looking forward to serving the community for years to come at this point." Contact reporter Jack Kopanski at (330) 721-4063 or jkopanski@medina-gazette.com.