"The fear that you could actually get someone else sick … You worry about your employees."”

Karen Toti, Karen's Hair Design

PORTSMOUTH — It wasn’t exactly the way Robin Lee had drawn it up in her head.

Ms. Lee left a career in retail pharmacy to try something new earlier this year: opening up her own retail/consignment shop that stocks children’s clothes, toys and accessories. Nestled into a small corner space at 1016 East Main Road next to Fieldstones Grille, the Milk and Honey cheese shop and other small businesses, she christened it The Robin’s Egg.

“I had looked at this space at least four times and then finally we did it,” she said at her shop during Small Business Saturday. “We signed the lease in February, we did a seven-week reno and then we were unable to open because of COVID. 

“It was just not the way to enter into the world of business.”

Ms. Lee was referring to Gov. Gina Raimondo’s order, in late March, that all “non-critical” businesses temporarily close their doors to help contain the spread of the coronavirus. Because of that, The Robin’s Egg wasn’t able to receive its first customers until the end of May.

Still, she tried making the best of the delay. “It gave me time to research the new items. I carry a wide variety of toys and gifts and accessories, and a few lines of clothing, but that did give me some time to really explore that,” said Ms. Lee, who considers her shop the only one in the area that specializes in children’s consignment and toys and gifts. “This is the only store that’s all children’s,” she said.

Business, she said, has been hit and miss.

“September was a very good month, and we have not been able to match September,” said Ms. Lee. “The summer was steady, but slow. I’m no stranger to retail; I’m a retail pharmacist by trade. It takes time to get established and get the cliental base. We knew going in it would take a good year, maybe two, to get that sort of thing established. We also sit back a little ways from the road, so I’ve been trying to get some signage, advertising, to let people know where the location is, and that we’re here.”

She has been unable to take advantage of any special small business loans to help her wade through the pandemic.

“I don’t qualify for anything because my business started after January, and all the ones I’ve seen you have to have been in business for one year to qualify for anything,” she said. “We did all of this on our dime. We’re tightening the belt and making it happen.”

The Robin’s Egg was one of several places we visited on Small Business Saturday to see how owners were making out during the pandemic. While all agreed they’ve faced challenges when it comes to their bottom lines, they remained hopeful for the future. 

They’re still brewing up business at Ragged Island

Despite the pandemic, Ragged Island Brewing Company, located within the Portsmouth Business Park on High Point Avenue, is still pouring suds inside its taproom and selling four-packs of tallboys a work continues on a farm brewery on Bristol Ferry Road.

“People are still coming out and purchasing a lot of beer to go,” owner Matt Gray said on Saturday.

However, the company has just entered another challenging phase because the state-mandated “two-week pause” through Dec. 13 applies to the brewery just as it does bars and restaurants.

“Our capacity is 41, so we’re at 66 percent until the pause begins, when we go to 33 percent,” Mr. Gray said. “If we can keep a few tables and a couple people want to come in, that’s certainly not a bad thing.”

The pandemic hasn’t stopped the brewery from growing and making improvements. Ragged Island recently installed its own canning machine, which is located behind the taproom.

“I think every brewery would love to have its own canning line,” he said. “It helps us reduce costs in the longterm — owning our own equipment versus renting it every time we use it. But also, this gives us more flexibility in our production schedule. Before, we were canning everything on one day. Now we can can a couple of styles a week and have a lot more fresh options.”

Putting their product in cans is more important than ever before, he said. 

“We never really focused on that; we were always on draft. Obviously, our business model had to completely flip to takeout and packaged options for liquor stores. We were never in liquor stores. Now we’re in liquor stores,” said Mr. Gray, adding the company still prefers to have customers buy direct since Ragged Island sees more profits that way.

The canning machine will eventually be relocated to the company’s farm brewery, which hopes to open full time next year. (Ragged Island opened an outdoor beer garden at the farm in July, and hosted several special dinners before the weather turned cold.)

“It’s still slow and steady,” he said of work on the farm. “We’ve been in discussions with our contractors and we’re basically ready to take the next step. Hopefully we’ll see something going over the wintertime.”

Mr. Gray said he’ll be the “first to sign up” for a vaccine. “Bring it on, because we’ve got to move forward and get the economy going,” he said, before adding sarcastically, “We’re just cruising through a wonderful year.”

Pandemic’s been somewhat nice to Sew-Nice Fabrics

Although many small shops struggled mightily during the early days of COVID, Sew-Nice Fabrics in the Portsmouth Shopping Plaza at 3001 East Main Road initially saw business boom.

“I was working with the town when the pandemic first came along because people were making masks to donate, so I donated about 150 masks to the town for the police and emergency responders,” said Elaine Wilson, who took over the store three years ago.

Sew-Nice “never really closed,” said Ms. Wilson, noting she stayed open by appointment only. In fact, her business was in great demand because of the pandemic, not in spite of it.

“It was actually a huge increase in business,” she said. “It was really amazing to me. My goal is to sell more fabric, but you’d never expect the reason to be because all of a sudden everyone in the U.S. is encouraged to wear a cloth face covering — preferably made from 100 percent quilting cotton, which is what I sell. Everybody needed them.”

Turns out many people were also going into business for themselves, as Ms. Wilson scrambled in April and May to find elastic materials for masks — “the great elastic shortage of 2020,” as she calls it.

“Some people who were out of work started their own businesses, making masks. I think it really helped them in between, or when they were furloughed,” she said.

Her busiest time was during the summer, when she was seeing up to 135 new customers a week. “Even with all the people I’ve seen, I’ve always worn a mask and my customers all wear masks. I haven’t gotten sick and I don’t know of anyone in my environment who’s tested positive. I think we’re in a fortunate place where we are, that’s less congested,” she said.

Sales of fabric have declined somewhat since then, said Ms. Wilson, who hopes to supplement her business by holding classes again soon.

“I really encourage people who started making masks to keep making them,” she said. “From one small thing, a lot of people have great sewing skills now, and they can move on to quilting, or making their own clothes or bags — anything. I hope to get classes started here sooner rather than later. I have 1,500 square feet, so I can have 15 people, but I’ll probably cap it at 10 because I have a little bit of storage.” 

A vaccine would certainly help at her business, since it will allow her to get closer to customers so she can show them various techniques when dealing with fabrics. “I’ve tried the plastic face shields, but it’s really hard to wear that or encourage someone else to wear it and then pick up a rotary cutter. So, we have to be safe with our hands and safe with our distance,” she said.

Ms. Wilson did not take advantage of any small business loans because she has no employees, and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) doesn’t apply to her.

“I haven’t taken a paycheck since I’ve started here. The store was all alterations and a lot of the fabric here had been here for a very long time, so I donated a lot of it. Everything that comes in becomes inventory, so I don’t really take anything out. I haven’t applied for anything. I’m fortunate; there’s another salary in my house,” she said, noting that her husband’s a chef who teaches culinary arts. (The couple formerly owned The Melville Grille in Portsmouth.)

“My goal here always was to have a business that caters to the community and I can offer my experience in sewing.”

Irving’s Shoe Store still putting its best foot forward

A few doors down from Ms. Wilson’s shop is Irving’s Shoe Store, a Portsmouth institution that’s been around for more than four decades.

The store’s owner and sole employee, Stuart Solup, first opened the six-day-a-week store in 1977. Most people know the shoe store for Mr. Solup’s friendly demeanor and his focus on customer service, which he said has not only helped him stay around for 43 years but has made a big difference in getting through the pandemic.

“(Customer service) is what we do here,” Mr. Solup said. “People come back for that. We’re not like a big box store. We have a lot of repeat customers and a lot of family business. A lot of people who come in here — about 80 percent — say we like to support the small stores, the local businesses. And they do. We’re in a pretty good position.

“We’re doing OK. As long as Gina says we can stay open, we’re good. We had that shutdown in April for about six weeks, but the customers basically waited if they needed a specific thing. We have a lot of calls that come in: ‘Do we need a mask? Do we need an appointment?’ No, you just need a mask.”

The store accepted a “small stimulus grant” at one point, he said. “It kind of helped during the time we were closed, when there was no income coming in. We just hope we don’t have another shutdown.”

Thriving Tree ‘blessed to have all the land that we have’

Most days, business at Thriving Tree Coffee House at 706 Park Ave. seems to be, well, thriving.

“We’re very blessed to have all the land that we have out there, so we can maintain social distancing. People can really spread out back there,” said owner Kristen Kidd, pointing to the spacious lawn behind the Island Park business that overlooks Blue Bill Cove. 

It was a gorgeous day on Saturday, and several people were enjoying their drinks and snacks outside. Later on, the business hosted a tree-lighting event, with Pete’s Ice Cream Truck offering refreshments.

When Thriving Tree hosted fireworks displays in the past, “we had probably 700 people back there,” Ms. Kidd said, adding that this year’s display was by reservation only. Due to social distancing restrictions, she’s allowed to have up to 150 — still a good number if the weather cooperates.

“On the weekends, when it’s nice out, that’s the whole key,” she said. “When it’s not nice out …” 

She and other businesses in the seaside neighborhood also receive support from the nonprofit Island Park Preservation Society. 

“We’re a team that likes to do family events. They also do beach cleanups,” she said.

Ms. Kidd realizes that some of her other business-owner friends have not been as fortunate during the pandemic. That’s why she invited some to attend the tree-lighting.

“It’s tough; I always say we can do stuff together. I invited them to come today and hopefully they can sell gift cards because there will be a lot of people here,” she said.

Karen’s Hair Design: Keeping people safe is the top priority

Karen Toti opened Karen’s Hair Design in the Portsmouth Shopping Plaza in 2001 before moving the business to 3357 East Main Road about five years later. 

“It depends,” she said when asked how the pandemic has impacted business. “There are a lot of issues whenever the governor comes on and starts talking about numbers. We were very lucky in the beginning. I reopened and in my first week back, I worked about 80 hours because we had to space people out. I started at 7 a.m. and worked until 9, 10 p.m., just to get people in; no one had gotten their hair done in about 10 weeks.”

The physical layout and design of the salon has also helped, she said. “We’re lucky in that every room is like a little salon, so everybody’s got their own space with their customer. The girl that sits next to me, we moved her (upstairs), so she sits in her own little space and we can separate everybody.”

Still, she’s seen a drop-off in business. “I still have a couple of clients who are afraid to come back — a handful myself. A couple of the other girls have the same thing,” Ms. Toti said.

She tried applying for a couple of special loans designed specifically to help small businesses navigate through COVID, but has run into issues due to the ever-changing guidelines.

“They’re not as easy (to acquire) as they make them out to seem,” she said. “I did apply for the PPP, but now the forgiveness part of it — it wasn’t a big amount because I’m a small business — now they’re saying if you’re under a certain amount, they want you to wait a little bit longer because the guidelines keep changing. You know, it’s like navigating a new story every day.”

She’s always tried to help, through the Portsmouth Business Association — Ms. Toti’s a past president — with other local businesses, but that’s become more difficult due to the pandemic. An annual shopping event held at a local restaurant couldn’t take place this year, for example.

“We can’t do that this year because they’re a restaurant and they’re worried about someone from the state coming in and shutting them down. It’s just sad,” she said.

Ms. Toti came down with COVID herself at one point, but it was a very mild case. “I had three hours of a temperature on a Friday — that’s it,” she said.

Still, she couldn’t come into her own salon for 10 days. And for someone who loves to work with a team of people, being at home alone was difficult for her. 

The health of the people around her weighs heavily.

“I know I’ll be OK, and I mean it, but the fear that you could actually get someone else sick … You worry about your employees. I’m one of the younger employees, and I’m in my 50s. One of my receptionists is 86 years old. She couldn’t wait to come back to work, but I worry about her. God forbid something should happen to her; I would feel horrible,” Ms. Toti said.

Being a business owner, especially during a pandemic, can take a heavy toll on one’s mental state, she said.

“I am about as upbeat as an upbeat person can be, and there are some days when I leave the room and hope that my personality will stay in that room, because I don’t even want to be with myself,” Ms. Toti said.

When Reidy’s Family Restaurant next door to her closed recently due to the pandemic, many people expressed surprise or even anger at the owner’s decision, she said. “I said to those people, ‘You don’t know what it’s like until you run your own business.’”

A vaccine — the so-called light at the end of the tunnel — is what gives her and others hope, said Ms. Toti, who hates it when someone else takes a less-optimistic outlook.

“I can’t wait,” she said. “If they told me I’d grow an extra arm, I would do that if I could get rid of this. If they said, here’s your vaccine and here’s your extra arm, I’d be down with it.”

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