Local small businesses prepare to reopen

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

With Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s recent announcement that “non-essential” businesses can begin to reopen starting this Friday, Van Wert shops and restaurants are preparing to do just that — with help from local development agencies.

MSVW Executive Director Mitch Price said his agency partnered with the Van Wert Area Economic Development Corporation (VWAEDC) and the Van Wert Area Chamber of Commerce to provide support and information to downtown businesses and others while they were at least partially shuttered during the COVID-19 shutdown. He also thanked local banks for providing needed financial support to businesses over the past several months.

“We’re hoping to make as smooth of a transition as we can,” Price said, adding that all three development organizations are continuing to provide information and support to reopening businesses.

He said businesses are planning to follow state guidelines as they reopen and added he hopes customers will cooperate to make the reopening work.

“We’ve got great business owners, leaders, and they’ll do the right thing,” Price noted. “They’re ready to roll; they’re chomping at the bit.”

The MSVW director said the businesses have been patient, although most realize it likely won’t be a record year because of the weeks they were closed.

“Patience was the key; everybody has been positive, and that’s a great thing,” Price said, while noting he feels many of the businesses could come back stronger than ever because of what they’ve learned during the shutdown.

“A lot of the retail businesses have had to do more marketing on the Internet, and they’ve learned that stuff in order to be even more successful,” he explained. “It’s sharpened everybody’s skill level.”

Price said Internet sales should continue for local businesses after they reopen to the public, adding another revenue stream to in-store sales.

But he said he knows it won’t all be smooth sailing, even with the added skills learned.

“Businesses will just have to grind it out for a while and they’ll get back to where they were eventually,” Price noted.

The MSVW said he sees uncertainty ahead for his own organization, as it looks at the upcoming months, noting that it’s hard to know exactly how many of the traditional downtown events will be held the rest of this year.

“The Peony Festival has canceled, and we were a big part of that,” Price said, adding that he’s unsure if the next MSVW event, the popular Town Creek Live! event held in conjunction with Wassenberg Art Center, will be held in July.

“I don’t know if we’ll have that,” he said.

Price added that “soft” planning continues for the Hidden Spaces event in August and Harvest Moon Festival in September, but he said it’s a very real possibility none of them will be held in 2020.

“In the back of my mind, I’m thinking we might not be able to have them,” the MSVW director said, although he noted he remains positive about the situation.

One positive for the future events is the addition of a new sound system in the downtown area. Price said MSVW recently purchased a 14-speaker wireless system that connects the downtown area between the local economic development office down to Washington Street. It’s a project he has been raising money for the past 1½ years and was one of the priorities he had coming into the Main Street job.

Price thanked city and county governments for making financial contributions to the system, as well as Avangrid Renewables, which also donated money to the approximately $15,000 project.

“It’s a sweet system,” Price said. “We can use it for parades, we can use it for emergencies, we can hook up a microphone to it.”

The system is also expandable, he noted, adding that he would like to eventually connect Fountain Park to the system to cover nearly the entire downtown area.

Future plans are to broadcast holiday music downtown during the Christmas season and for other special events, but for now Price is showing the speaker system off by broadcasting family-friendly music in the downtown area from 8 a.m.-10 p.m. weekdays.

While admitting that there’s plenty of uncertainty ahead, Price said he hopes any events that have to be canceled this year come back even stronger in the future.

“People are itching to get out, so maybe we’ll appreciate these events even more when we’re able to have them,” he added.

Meanwhile, Price said local businesses — and Main Street — will be working hard to make up for the time lost during the shutdown.

“We’re taking it one day at a time, following the rules, and we’ll get through it,” the MSVW director said of the uncertain times.