Tripadvisor lists Church Street Marketplace as one of the top 5 things to do while in Vermont. It is bustling with activity: street entertainers, festivals and a lot of small businesses standing side-by-side with larger companies. CVS sits across from Golden Hour Gift Co., Chase Bank across from Kru Coffee. Banana Republic, Lululemon and other large clothing brands sit surrounded by small clothing companies like Whim Boutique, Harbour Thread and Ecco Clothes. For the almost 2 million people that come to Church Street each year, it is the eclectic mix of shops that draw them in – especially the small businesses.
But for the people behind the scenes, running these small businesses is no walk in the park. According to the Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, as reported by Forbes, 20% of small businesses don’t survive the first year, and only about 50% survive 5 years or more. Of the remaining businesses, only one-third make it for 10 years. Experts say the “Amazon Effect” has a lot to do with this because brick and mortar stores have a hard time matching the ease and prices of large online retailers like Amazon, so they have to rely more on things like atmosphere and personal connections with customers.
Mike Rosenberg is the founder and owner of Garuka Bars, a VT based energy bar company. He started the company by making bars for his friends, who encouraged him to pursue it and start selling them.
“I really enjoy connecting with customers on a personal level, we send them handwritten notes in every order,” Rosenberg said. “It’s just cool to know that the buyers are out there and that you’re a part of people’s adventures and lives.”
Rosenberg says that while Garuka Bars has had many wins, it’s still a struggle to be a tiny company in today’s world.
“It’s hard because you never have enough time or money or people to do the things that you want to do because you’re small and you have big ideas,” Rosenberg said.
The pandemic was especially challenging for small businesses.
“We really could only have one person working at a time. Everything was out of stock all the time. Costs were high, and demand was way lower,” Rosenberg said.
Bram Kleppner is the CEO of Danforth Pewter, which sells handmade jewelry and pewter craft at multiple locations in Vermont, including one on Church Street. He says that his company also struggled during the pandemic.
“It was scary trying to keep everyone safe and keep the company running,” Kleppner said. “We closed all of our retail stores and that caused 40% of our revenue to disappear overnight.”
The two businesses, while very different on the outside, face similar challenges every day as well.
“It doesn’t take much to make small businesses fragile, and the terror of going out of business is never very far away,” Kleppner said. “It’s like walking on a tightrope without a net, if you mess up, you can really mess up. So it’s in your hands to keep the company successful and keep everyone employed and with their health insurance.”
Rosenberg said he hopes that the headwinds they’re facing now, such as inflation and supply chain issues, will subside. Despite this, they’re both still optimistic.
“There will always be things that an individual with an idea can do better than a big company can,” Kleppner said. “And VT in particular is a great place for small business because Vermonters tend to care about local businesses and their neighbors and make an effort to support their friends who work at the small businesses around by shopping there.”