Deloris Doss grew up as one of 14 children — seven boys and seven girls.
When she was young, she saw how hard her parents worked to support the family — how they always got their children what they needed, not what they wanted.
Seeing her parents struggle helped Doss decide something for herself.
“When I grew up, I wanted to have my own business,” she said. “I wanted to have my own stuff. I wanted to be able to tell myself what to do, not have people tell me what to do.”
In February 2018, Doss achieved that goal when she opened the clothing store Three Daughters on Main in downtown West Point. Just more than two years later, the COVID-19 pandemic has called her dream into question.
“It’s been a challenge, but we’re hanging in there because we trust God and we have faith,” Doss said. “… We never thought anything like this would happen.”
Her store was shut down for nearly two months in the spring, and sales have dropped 20 percent overall even with the business open again as of late May. Church and school clothing hasn’t sold well, Doss said.
But with her part-time job at City Hall and the full- and part-time jobs her three daughters hold, she expects her store to survive the pandemic.
“I think we’ll be OK — at least, I pray we’ll be OK,” she said.
Many small businesses, however, can’t say the same. According to a study by Yelp cited in the Washington Post in mid-August, about 60,000 small businesses in the U.S. permanently closed between March 1 and July 25, casualties of COVID-19.
Mississippi and the Golden Triangle area haven’t been immune, but according to local and state experts, they’ve fared better than expected. Mitch McDowell, assistant director of the Mississippi Small Business Development Center, which provides resources and counseling for small businesses across the state, is optimistic about small business strength.
“Overall, it’s not as doom and gloom as everyone seems to think,” McDowell said.
‘Here for the long haul’
According to McDowell, the crucial factor in whether a small business can outlast the pandemic is simple: How well was the business doing before COVID-19?
Hypothetically, McDowell said, a business in good shape could weather a 30-percent hit in gross sales and still have enough money to pay its bills and its employees. For a business struggling to break even, though, the same decrease would pose a big problem
“Once they run out of cash, it’s kind of game over,” McDowell said.
Greater Starkville Development Partnership CEO Mike Tagert said the market during COVID-19 is somewhat reinforcing established trends within small businesses.
“If you were a weak business before, then you’re struggling like never before,” Tagert said. “If you were doing relatively well, you’re just having an average year.”
Terrance Bonner, who owns The Glam Station and Spa in Columbus, had to face those concerns when he reopened May 19 after being closed for two months. Bonner said he was worried about the long-term viability of his business during the closure, as he was only able to sell products online for shipping and pickup.
But he’s kept the salon financially stable enough to stay open long term, which he said feels like a “blessing” in the wake of news about other small businesses closing. In the Yelp study, roughly 8 percent of closures — almost 5,000 — were in the beauty industry.
Bonner said he doesn’t think his salon will be added to the list of closures, even if it were forced to shut down again due to a possible surge in COVID-19 cases.
“It’s my hope that we will be OK,” he said. “I don’t foresee anything happening.”
Retail businesses and restaurants were hit the hardest, accounting for more than 34 percent of closures with more than 20,000. Tagert said sales tax revenue is actually up 3 percent from last year in Starkville, but food and beverage tax and hotel tax collections have taken the biggest hit.
“People are still spending,” Tagert said. “They’re just allocating that in different categories.”
Scott Reed of Petal Pushers in downtown West Point said business at the flower shop took a “big hit” with events like weddings and funerals canceled or significantly limited because of the virus.
Reed had to turn to curbside and delivery service in order to recoup the losses. His business already had a sales presence on Facebook and Instagram, and he expanded it.
“We already had really amped that up because that’s the way the world is going, but with the pandemic, we really had to kick it into high gear,” Reed said.
The turn toward social media is one of the modifications COVID-19 has forced him to make in order to keep Petal Pushers alive and well on Commerce Street.
“I’m very optimistic that we’re here for the long haul,” Reed said. “We’re going to have to change up some things and make some adjustments to see it through.”
Reinvention
Doss, Bonner and Reed all said they expect their businesses to survive, but other area companies have already thrown in the towel — some on brick-and-mortar locations, others altogether.
The CURiO Store on Main Street in Starkville announced July 1 it will close its physical storefront in September, citing an ongoing turn away from physical sales to e-commerce and citing COVID-19’s influence as well.
“We realize the impact our store has on the community, and that has been a key reason we have chosen to keep our doors open thus far,” the store said on its Facebook page. “As we continue to navigate through a global pandemic and the economic hardships it has created, it has become clear that maintaining our CURiO physical storefront no longer makes sense for our business.”
While CURiO isn’t gone for good — it will maintain its online sales presence, and its Starkville office and manufacturing facility will remain open — other businesses in the city could follow its lead.
McDowell said tourism-dependent college towns like Hattiesburg and Oxford have been hit especially hard. That could follow in Starkville, where football season and busy season are one and the same.
“When football season rolls around, people come in, and they rent hotel rooms, and they get Airbnbs, and they go out to eat, and they buy merchandise,” McDowell said. “That’s a big part of what goes on in college towns.”
Mississippi State has said that Davis Wade Stadium will be limited to 25 percent capacity pursuant to an order by Gov. Tate Reeves — if football is played at all. Either way, Mississippi State Small Business Development Center Director Chip Templeton said, the community must “reinvent”‘ in order to survive.
He’s already seen that happen in his center’s 10-county region, where new businesses — retail, clothing and more — have begun to spring up.
“I’m really, really proud of the entrepreneurs in our area,” Templeton said. “They have really been very creative.”
He offered the same advice to business owners new and established: put together a “B.A.I.L.” team by establishing relationships with a banker, an accountant, an insurance agent and a lawyer; monitor the market and current trends; and constantly update the business plan and projections accordingly.
“I don’t care if it’s the best of times or the worst of times: You still have to always keep up with what’s going on, because it changes quickly,” Templeton said.
Small businesses helping each other
Even in those worst of times, Reed saw other nearby businesses, including Three Daughters, as well as his regular customers keep buying flowers — just to support Petal Pushers. He did the same for them.
“The only reason they’re coming in and getting flowers to take home is because you know they want to be helping you, and that makes you feel good about the town you live in and your clients and your neighbors and your friends,” Reed said.
He said patronizing local businesses is safer at this point in the pandemic than earlier on due to limited crowds, and he’s seen an uptick in support for other businesses, too.
“I really think, now more than ever, people are being conscious about shopping locally,” Reed said.
That kind of community support is fundamental, said Barbara Bigelow, executive director for Main Street Columbus.
“One way to help our downtown retailers is to continue to shop local and help these businesses remain open,” Bigelow said in an email. “They work very hard to provide services and merchandise that are needed by those in our community.”
Before the pandemic, Bigelow said, there were 83 businesses in what Main Street Columbus considers the downtown business district: from Second to Sixth streets on Main and College Streets and from Second Avenue North to Fifth Avenue South on Fifth Street. As of Friday, there were 85, a sign downtown Columbus isn’t just treading water but managing to grow.
Columbus-Lowndes Chamber of Commerce Director Wilson Beck said a kindly “network” of people and businesses in the city serves to keep local businesses afloat. He said that the majority of businesses he’s talked to are doing well; just a few are struggling.
Overall, Beck said, Columbus has “weathered the storm” — something many other cities can’t say.
“Our community is thriving,” he said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.