This is where we started to create Second & Main — a small work crew of guys, a long-abandoned building, and our children looking on
Our family owns a historic building in downtown Corbin, Kentucky that had sat vacant for over a decade before we renovated it into a multi-purpose space that includes retail, a bar, and an event space. It was a project of the heart – we cashed in our retirement to buy the building and put in endless amounts of sweat equity to make it the place to host people’s most special memories.
We first opened in March of 2018 and, like most small businesses, got off to a slow start and operated our first year at a loss. In 2019 we grew quite a bit and were just a few thousand dollars short of breaking even. But 2020 was off to a great start: by the end of January we had 26 weddings scheduled for the year. We had an increasing number of weekday events, and our revenues had grown from the year before. After nearly two years of operating at a loss, it felt like we had finally hit our stride. All that nagging worrying about our bank account and payroll let up, and it felt amazing to be part of a growing business that met a community need.
Construction sites make great playgrounds for children
And then the Coronavirus epidemic hit.
By March 6, the Governor of Kentucky had declared a state of emergency. By March 11 he recommended that all public gatherings be cancelled. Bars were closed to in-person traffic by March 16, and then on March 17 all non-essential retail was asked to close. By then we had shut our doors completely.
Early March was definitely the most painful experience I have had as a business owner. We carefully went through the process of postponing and rescheduling all of the events on our calendar, first for March and then for April. Some folks wanted their events to go on as planned, and we had to work tactfully to explain that we were following the Governor’s guidelines and would not host them. Other events were timely and simply had to be cancelled and refunded. All of our sales and reservations came to a screeching halt at exactly the same time that we were processing what we expect to be close to $5k in refunds.
A business we built ourselves
When all is said and done and the dust is settled, we expect to lose about $45k on our business this spring. Of course, right now it is impossible to know, and the numbers could be worse. To be clear, we are a family with young kids, and we do not have $45,000 to lose. Every day I am filled with worry of how we will make ends meet to keep our businesses alive; we follow updates and have already applied for an SBA loan. But do you know what I do not worry about? That our decisions will lead to the loss of life.
It is a terrible sacrifice to see a business you have spent years of your life building up spiraling into loss. My heart hurts for so many friends out there who have had to close completely and are making unfathomable sacrifices for their own family to keep our nation healthy. These are people who have literally given up all income and don’t even know how they will buy groceries for their children, and they did this before the announcement yesterday that they can now apply for Disaster Unemployment Insurance. It is awful to worry about employees—many of whom do not qualify for Unemployment Insurance—and how long you can continue to pay them. But it is not nearly as unconscionable as making decisions that put people’s lives at risk.
We are at a point in our country where we see many places taking big steps up to do the right thing. It is amazing to see small business owners pivot and innovate so that they can continue to offer essential services, like food. I am amazed by those who unbegrudgingly close their doors when it is their sole livelihood. And, of course, we see others stepping up in amazing and heartfelt ways, like delivering meals to schoolchildren at bus stops.
At the same time, we see others making decisions that appear to be motivated by profit over community good. We have seen a store host a grand opening with hundreds attending. We see large chain stores with overflowing parking lots that get away with being opened because they sell a few canned goods on some aisle somewhere. It seems very simple to limit the number of customers coming in and make sure that all door handles and carts are being sanitized by staff. But simple does not mean that it is done.
I am not someone who lives in fear. I do not want executive orders that require everyone to stay in their homes. But I do ask that all businesses step up and take a good, hard look at the decisions they are making. We absolutely need our grocery stores and farm stores and hardware stores to stay in operation, and I applaud the folks working late at night stocking shelves. I am so grateful for the truckers and farmers and manufacturers working overtime to get us what we need. Every single day we purchase take-out to support a locally-owned restaurant slogging it out through these tough times.
In the face of so much goodness, it is awful to realize that some are careless with the public good. Those businesses that are technically operating within the confines of what is legal but far outside of recommendations of preserving public health? I pray they have a change of heart. I don’t ask them to close (unless they are hosting gatherings), I simply ask that they keep on employing staff and put them to work to make sure the space is clean and sanitary. I ask that they limit the number of customers coming and going.
When all this is done, businesses will have shown us their true character. And then it will be up to us, the consumers, to decide the kinds of places we want to support.
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Sky and Geoff Marietta are passionate about rebuilding Main Street businesses in Appalachian Kentucky. Look for some of our blog posts below, or find out more about our start here.
