The year is 2008, the recession has struck the nation, and my father has just opened a small business.
According to the Small Business Administration, only half of new small businesses survive five years. Only a third survive 10 years. Even with the odds stacked against him, my father’s small business survived and continues to thrive.
I was 8 years old when he opened his bagel shop, Blazing Bagels in Commerce Township, Michigan. It was pretty awesome to have a constant supply of bagels, and insanely cool to tell my friends that my father owned a bagel shop.
But also, a majority of my life before I turned 18 and much of it after I reached that age (Thank you, mom and dad, for continuing to help me when I need it) was funded by bagels. The shop was the reason I had a roof over my head and food on the table. It is the reason my 13-year-old sister still has those basic needs, and more, met.
That is why I actively try to support small businesses over large corporations. It’s also why I encourage my friends — and now my readers — to do the same.
I am writing this because the town I report in, Swampscott, is losing a small business, The Hiccup, soon. When I heard the news, I knew I had to write an article to let the people of Swampscott know that one of their own is losing her shop.
The Hiccup opened just a few weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world.
“The shop, it was something that I’d always wanted to do, and it was a passion, but it had run its course,” owner Lisa Boemer told me in an interview back in March. “It was time to close, it wasn’t sustainable for me to be able to pay the bills.”
Writing that article made me think about what would’ve happened if my father had to close his business. It made me wonder whether The Hiccup would have survived if people had shopped there more, instead of at large corporations.
The same question can be asked for any small business that goes under.
I think people forget that the owners of these small businesses are people, like my father. They have to pay bills, eat, and — a lot of times — care for their children.
The Hiccup will be open until the end of April, so I ask for my readers to go support it in any way you can. And I also ask that if you have the ability, support other small businesses any chance you can.
