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8SS SUNDAY, JULY 28, 2019 ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE THREE RIVERS EDITION OF THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE • EXPLORE WHITE COUNTY
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BUSINESS
City of Searcy embraces small-business community
BY CODY GRAVES / CREATIVE SERVICES WRITER
From offering goods and services to providing great jobs for the city, the small businesses of Searcy make up the backbone of White County’s economy. rough inno- vation and the support of the community, these businesses strive to make the city a thriving destination for visitors and a com- fortable home for residents.
e Searcy Regional Chamber of Com- merce has helped business owners and others in the community connect for more than 74 years. Buck Layne, president and CEO, said the chamber helps its nearly 600
members connect with each other and find business resources.
Layne said one issue the chamber fo- cused on recently was the COVID-19 pan- demic and its effects on business. e cham- ber started an emailed newsletter to provide its members with up-to-date information on subjects such as unemployment compen- sation, the Main Street Lending Program, personal protective equipment, educational webinars and other legal information.
“Almost since day 1 of the issue, we have been producing or sending out an email on their COVID-19 resources, and as we learn of information, we tried to put that in a format that would be helpful to our members and anyone else who wants to look at our mem- bership and kind of let them know what pro- grams are available and what they need to do to get them things like that,” he said. “We get information from multiple sources, and what we try to do is take that and pare it down to something that’s manageable that doesn’t in- undate people with information.”
One industry that was hit especially hard by the pandemic was Searcy’s restaurants. With dine-in service shut down, the area’s restau- rants had to adapt to serve their customers and keep their workers employed. Layne said many restaurants began offering curbside
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Small businesses in Searcy provide a number of services to the community, along with offering jobs to residents. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many had to adapt their businesses to help protect customers and staff. Stotts Drug Store downtown added curbside pickup as a way to keep customers’ prescriptions filled.
pickup and delivery if they didn’t already offer the services. He said many restaurants have also been able to get grant money to buy per- sonal protective equipment for workers and to set up work areas to offer better social distanc- ing to limit the spread of the virus.
“It’s a real challenge for our businesses and restaurants having to operate at a 33 percent level versus 100 percent,” he said. “We cer- tainly appreciate what they’re trying to do, and we urge our [other] local businesses to frequent them.”
Another way the city supported its small businesses was through a program called the Cash Mob. is had been an ongoing program in Searcy for a few years. Original- ly, organizers would choose a local business once or twice a month and encourage Face- book users to visit the business to dine or shop. During the pandemic, Mat Faulkner,
owner of ink Idea Studio in Searcy, said that when he saw how devastating COVID-19 would be for local businesses, he called Layne to see if they could do more Cash Mobs and expand the program to in- clude nonchamber members.
Faulkner said a different business was chosen every day, and in all, about 47 busi- nesses benefited from the program.
“So the feedback we got from the small businesses was basically that, yes, it was a great shot in the arm, and it did generate more revenue than on a typical day,” he said. “It definitely wasn’t something that could sustain them for months, as the [pandemic] lingered on, but it was a huge encourage- ment to the businesses to know that the community was behind them.”
Layne said it’s important to support local businesses because research has shown that when $1 is spent at a small business, that dollar can turn over four times in the com- munity through wages and taxes. Layne said that when someone spends money at a local business, the city and county collect taxes, the owner pays his employees, and they each spend their money on taxes and services.
“If the money can stay here and people can find the products and services they want, it just helps everybody as opposed to somebody buying online or somebody trav- eling to another community to buy a prod- uct or service,” he said.
Layne also said many local business- es support the community by sponsoring sports teams and conducting fundraisers for area schools.