New Small Business Association puts community first

“Local businesses are your neighbors,” says Greg Anderson who owns Greg’s PC Repair and Premium Inks at the corner of Edmund and Snelling avenues in the Hamline Midway neighborhood.

Anderson is one of a growing number of small and home-based business owners banding together around the idea that a mutually supportive small business association focused on improving the surrounding community can help create a more vibrant, sustainable place to live and work for all.

With about a dozen current members, the Hamline Midway Small Business Association represents a growing community of small and locally owned businesses that rely on neighborhood patronage to thrive in the shadow of big box retailers on University Ave.

For Anderson, shopping local means investing in your community. “If neighborhood people support their small local businesses, more of that money will end up being returned into the neighborhood,” he says.

Fostering insular economic activity where money is invested and reinvested within a community can be a powerful tool to build vibrancy and prosperity from within, according to Anderson. Small businesses play an integral role in creating the kind of community people are drawn to, live in, and invest in.

More cars drive down Snelling Ave. than just about any street in St. Paul on a daily basis. Despite the high traffic, businesses along Snelling have struggled in recent years.

“If we don’t support them and local businesses leave, then the neighborhood is just declining,” Anderson says, referencing the recent closure of Hardware Hank at Snelling and Jefferson.

Having a thriving local business scene can help the community in other ways, as well. It can help deter crime, for example, by showing people care about the area. It can help create a vibrant streetscape where more people walk between shops and enjoy public spaces together, which in turn, show those passing by that this is not just an area to travel through.

“We’re all in this together and we all have a vested interest in keeping this community safe and helping it thrive,” says HMSBA member Cheryl Gferer. “It’s about making decisions that aren’t just about what affects me personally or what affects my business individually, but how do my choices affect the people next to me.”

Starting your own business is no simple endeavor, Gferer says. She recently started her own dog training business that specializes in rescue animals and rehabilitation.

“I don’t think there’s anything that can prepare somebody for starting a small business,” she says. “For me, it was really building a small business from the ground up with no business background.”

With questions about things like accounting, legal frameworks, marketing, and payroll, starting your own business can be daunting. Having a supportive community of other small businesses to offer guidance and experience can make a real difference, according to Gferer. The group hopes to be a resource for new small businesses in the area—“a think tank,” of sorts, Anderson calls it.

The Midway Chamber of Commerce is a valuable resource for many businesses in the area, but Anderson says he doesn’t feel it caters to small and independent businesses like his. On top of the dues being a bit high for some small businesses, it can also be hard to make the meetings, which are often held in the middle of the day, when you are the only one running the shop, he says.

“I think is doing an amazing job reaching out to businesses and connecting with businesses, but I think this feels much more grassroots than that, and I definitely see energy building,” Gferer says.

The Small Business Association is off to a rolling start, with plenty of ideas about group marketing, beautification projects on Snelling like Christmas decorations and lights and a regular community event organized by the small businesses.

At this point, the first priority is bringing more businesses into the mix, Anderson says. The group is currently meeting the first Thursday of every month. If you’re interested in joining the Hamline Midway Small Business Association, contact Greg Anderson at gregs_pc_repair@yahoo.com or 651-967-1181.