Staying Afloat: Local Businesses Lean on the Community to Survive the Pandemic
Swarthmore businesses learn to adapt during the pandemic. Photo: Satya Nelms
When Governor Tom Wolf issued a stay at home order in March 2020, non-life-sustaining businesses were forced to close their doors. The timeframe for the initial order was brief. “I thought, ‘Oh, we’ll be back in two weeks,’” says Jacqlyn Diamond, owner of Indigo Healing Arts Collective in Swarthmore.
But, at the two-week mark, the order was extended, and then it was extended again. Months went by. Local businesses wondered how they would survive.
The shut-down was “an incredible shock to the system,” says Anita Barrett, coordinator of the non-profit community-development organization Swarthmore Town Center. The fallout was not just financial. Paul Feldmayer, owner of Vicky’s Place, says he missed his customers, missed going to work every day. “I’ve been working since I was 14 years old, and it was weird having to just stay at home.”
To get through the worst of it, some, like Vicky’s Place, applied for and received small business grants from the state. Others, like Hobbs Coffee, took out small business loans. Many local retailers moved their business online. “They have been forced to do something they always wanted to do, but never really had time to do, and that’s create an online shop,” says Barrett. “Gallery on Park has done it. H.O.M. [Harvey Oak Mercantile] has done it too.”
To support local merchants, Swarthmore Town Center has featured businesses (especially those without an online presence) in their newsletter; promoted local businesses on their social media; and provided business owners with information about available resources.
Reimagining What’s Possible
As the weather got warmer and restrictions loosened, shop owners slowly began to extend services to their customers again. “People began to think creatively and figure out how to transform their product offerings, and the way that they do business,” says Barrett. Hobbs Coffee offered contact-free pick up for bakery items like scones and tomato pies. Indigo Healing Arts Collective moved their classes outside and converted their yoga space into a plant studio, where customers can purchase houseplants. “I wanted to remain a community space, whatever that had to look like,” says Diamond.
Another innovation was making space for outdoor dining on borough streets. Barrett says that when Town Center decided to move forward with these spaces, known as parklets, they had already been exploring creative ways to bring the inside, outside. “In the world of Main Street planning, that’s called placemaking: creating spaces where people can gather,” she says. “The fact that we did that in the middle of a pandemic is so exciting.”
As businesses adjusted, their customers and clients rallied around them. “The community has been supportive this whole time, with gift cards, to-go orders, retail products, and basically showing up however we made ourselves available to them,” says William Randall, owner of Hobbs Coffee. “That’s been moving and tremendously helpful.”
Feldmayer says, “I think if I were somewhere else, I might have closed down. The town does so much for small businesses. I couldn’t be more thankful.”
Shop Small, Shop Local
In light of the pandemic, Swarthmore’s annual Home for the Holidays event has been significantly pared down from what the community has come to expect, says Barrett. In place of the traditional horse-drawn carriage rides, visit from Santa Claus, and dreidel games, there will be a handful of holiday activities that people can do on their own. “We are, quite literally, home for the holidays,” Barrett says.
Since the day of seasonal festivities is usually a big shopping day in the borough, the cancellation is worrisome for some retailers.
Concerns about the loss of Home for the Holidays sales are compounded by the arrival of winter. Some business owners have projected that the colder it gets, the less traffic they will see. “I’m worried it’s going to start dying down again because nobody wants to sit outside in the cold,” said Feldmayer.
In anticipation of what may be a slow winter season, Town Center is encouraging residents to shop small this holiday season. They have been promoting Small Business Saturday on November 28, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., which features a host of deals and specials from shops throughout the borough.
Instead of shopping on Amazon or larger department stores, merchants hope residents will shop local, shop early, and shop small, at businesses that need their continued support. “We’ve been using the tagline: ‘Keep the cheer here!’,” says Barrett. “And that’s literally what our small businesses need folks to do this holiday season.”
