Posted by: John Tozzi on November 25
The FDIC's Sheila Bair says banks need to lend, Paul Wiseman and Pallavi Gogoi (a former BWer) report in USA Today.
How many cupcakes do you have to sell each month to pay the rent? The NY Time's Elizabeth Olsen finds out.
At Slate's BizBox, Marc Tracy signs off with an elegant note about why entrepreneurs need health reform.
AmEx's Open Forum splices and dices the small business Twitter stream, MG Siegler writes in TechCrunch.
Finally, some things our small biz followers on Twitter are thankful for:
@CathyIconis: I am thankful I am not in the red!
@dankastner: that we are still here. Many companies are not.
@BeckyMcCray: i am thankful for terrific people to work with: clients, associates, suppliers and more.
@EricaFenik: I am grateful to work among people who take near equal measures of intellect and fun.
And I'd like to thank all our readers, commenters, Twitter followers, and everyone else that makes this enterprise possible. We wouldn't be here without you.
Posted by: John Tozzi on November 25
I checked in with the three small retailers we're tracking throughout the holidays on the eve of Thanksgiving weekend. They sound cautiously upbeat.
Frank Simoncioni, CEO of New Orleans candy maker Aunt Sally's Pralines, says that his retail business in October was up 20% over 2008, and November's jump should be even bigger. He has seen Aunt Sally's wholesale business more than double, thanks in part to an award the praline company won from the National Confectionery Sales Association and some good press that surrounded that. Simoncioni also noted that half of Aunt Sally's web sales are to new customers, which he attributed to a revamped site optimized for search engines.
"We’re expecting a giant weekend, not because it’s Black Friday, because Black Friday doesn’t affect Aunt Sally’s that much. We’re more tourism driven," Simonicioni says. "This weekend happens to be a big football weekend. We have Monday Night Football with the Saints who are undefeated." Between the tourist traffic from the holiday and the football game, he expects a boost. On top of that, Aunt Sally's will be on QVC for the first time at midnight on Dec. 3.
Meanwhile, at Overstock Art, the Kansas online retailer of replica paintings, November sales are up 40% so far compared to last year. And while Black Friday isn't as big a deal for online retailers as it is for mall stores and other brick-and-mortars, Overstock's CEO David Sasson sees it growing. In an email, Sasson says
In the last 3 years or so, it has started becoming a much more significant day for us. I think buyers are starting to say, I like the tradition of shopping on Black Friday, but I hate fighting the crowds. ... For example last year we had an increase of 30% when comparing the sales during the Thanksgiving weekend (Thursday, Black Friday, Saturday and Sunday), to the previous four days.
Finally, some notes from Mathias Eichler of the Olympia, Wash., European home and kitchen goods store Einmaleins. He saw November sales up 63% so far compared to last year, when the holiday season did not really pick up until Black Friday. His customer count is almost double, though his average ticket (that is, the total spent by each customer) dropped by $8 to $40.
"I don't think we'll be able to hold those November numbers into December -- basically I don't have enough product in the store and don't have enough money to buy more product right now," Eichler said in an email. He discussed the challenge of anticipating demand and stocking accordingly a few weeks ago. Last year Einmaleins ran out of some items. The store's limited credit from lenders and suppliers also makes inventory management more difficult.
But Eichler says his business, founded just over two years ago on the edge of the Great Recession, has persisted. "I suppose this is quite unique, but we opened the business already in a downturn and are growing now not just with the slow recovery, but also are utilizing social media tools better and are extending our reach, way, way beyond our storefront."
This is a big weekend for all three of these businesses -- as it is for small retailers online and off across the country. We'll check back again next week and see how they fare.
Posted by: John Tozzi on November 24
The SBA's $375 million in stimulus money to cut fees and boost loan guarantees is dry, reports Catherine Clifford of CNNMoney.
Obama seeks $100 million to extend it, according to Silla Brush in The Hill.
The NY Times's Robb Mandelbaum asks why the NFIB pulled support for extending credit card protections to small business credit cards.
Artists -- many of them small business owners or freelancers -- have seen incomes fall severely, Daniel Costello writes at NPR's Planet Money.
Among microbusinesses, delinquencies are down and borrowing is picking up (though still down from a year ago), reports James Kelleher at Reuters.
Posted by: Amy S. Choi on November 23
Last spring, I wrote about how small business owners in Merced County, Calif., were pushing to jump start the local economy. I recently heard from one of those entrepreneurs, Ken Myers, owner of Delhi Mini Storage. I was inspired by his spirit, and hope you are too.
Six months since I met him, Myers has seen his business pick up, and his new two-year-old storage facility has grown to 34% occupied from 18%. But his bank has informed him that his $4.2 million construction loan, which was originally supposed to be rolled over into a 30-year loan in June 2010, will not be refinanced. “So our business is improving,” says Myers, “but I’ll still probably lose it all.” In order to save his company, Myers is considering selling one of his two storage buildings and is trying to secure funds to build a billboard on his property, which he hopes will generate advertising income.
To make ends meet in the meantime, he’s taken a job driving 18-wheelers for a local trucking company while his wife and daughter run the office. Myers knows that without refinancing help from the banks he will lose his business. It seems unlikely to happen anytime soon. But he still hasn’t soured on entrepreneurship. “I’m 52 years old, but I can drive a truck and save some money,” he says. “If I lose this business I’ll start a new company. It won’t be as easy as it was 30 years ago, but I can still do it.”
Posted by: John Tozzi on November 19
Geithner calls on bailed-out banks to increase lending to small businesses, Meena Thiruvengadam writes in the WSJ.
Small business owners should think twice before skimping on holiday gifts to clients, the AP's Joyce Rosenberg writes.
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) says Congress must get health reform right for small businesses, David Herszenhorn reports at the NYTimes Prescriptions blog.
And Time's Janet Morrisey finds small business left out of the recovery.
