Courtesy / F.T. Brown
F.T. Brown Merchantile & Marine Chandlery Co. owners Kelly and Tom Brown were concerned that reduced summer revenue would make it difficult to continue operations through the fall and winter.
Updated: June 16, 2020
On MDI, summer residents rally to help local businesses with $800K boost
Photo / Laurie Schreiber
In typical years, Northeast Harbor and other Mount Desert villages are quieter than nearby Bar Harbor, but maintain a steady summer-resident and tourist following.
Businesses in the town of Mount Desert have received financial help before the summer's start from summer residents.
The town's Summer Residents Association raised over $800,000 in two months to provide grants to 56 Mount Desert businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The grants were funded with gifts from more than 175 summer and year-round residents and local businesses, according to the association’s website. A $50,000 gift kicked off the fundraising.
In late March, the group recognized the threat COVID-19 posed to the town’s stores, restaurants and tourism-driven businesses. Partnering with the town and the Mount Desert Chamber of Commerce, the association conducted a survey of local businesses to determine their levels of financial need. Grants were awarded based on each applicant’s situation.
All hands on deck
Mount Desert, on Mount Desert Island, consists of six villages; probably the best-known is Northeast Harbor. That's the summer residence of John Boynton, who also lives in Concord, Mass., and is one of the association's nine board members.
Calling it an "all-hands-on-deck effort," he said the initiative was conceived by the board during a conference call to discuss the likely economic impacts of the pandemic.
“We hashed out the idea of raising money to make donations to local businesses,” he told Mainebiz. “We wanted to do what we could to help.”
The survey drew 63 responses from Mount Desert businesses. The primary financial need was for rent and mortgage payments.
The No. 1 impact was loss of sales. About one-third, as nonessential businesses, were forced to close during the mandatory shutdown. A third were concerned about added costs for deep cleaning and safety supplies in order to reopen.
“Thirty-six percent said their revenue had decreased by more than 75%,” Boynton said, and nearly 30% were considering not opening at all this year.
Asked about their concerns going forward, respondents said their biggest concern was the well-being of their employees. That was followed by worry about their ability to sustain financial losses and the possibility that they might have to close their businesses permanently, he said.
Rent and mortgage
The survey was circulated to members of the Mount Desert Chamber of Commerce and promoted on the town’s website, and represents mostly seasonal businesses along with some year-round companies, such as those in construction and trades.
The board considered using a fundraising platform like Kickstarter, then decided to create its own website in order to maintain flexibility to do the messaging, he said.
The campaign began in April and ended June 8, when the function that allows online donations was turned off.
The average grant size was $14,200. The money has allowed businesses to cover costs such as rent and mortgage payments, acquire inventory and make commitments to employees, which they otherwise might not have been able to do, Boynton said.
All but one of the 56 recipients are now planning to be open this summer, he added.
F.T. Brown Merchantile & Marine Chandlery Co., a hardware and general goods store on Main Street in Northeast Harbor, was one of the grantees. As an essential business, F.T. Brown remained open through the pandemic. But the owners, Kelly and Tom Brown, were concerned that reduced summer revenue would make it difficult to continue operations through the fall and winter.
“We don’t have the foot traffic that we normally would see in June,” said Kelly Brown. “Having this grant will compensate for what we’re not going to pull in this summer and will allow us to keep the doors this winter.”
The store closed to walk-in traffic on March 18 and started doing curbside pick-up and free delivery throughout the island.
“The first couple of weeks were a little interesting because it was getting people used to a different form of shopping,” she said.
In-store shopping resumed in late May. Brown said they began seeing customers they wouldn’t normally see. Northeast Harbor residents who worked in Ellsworth, for example, would typically pop into the Ellsworth stores for their shopping. Now they were sheltering at home in Northeast Harbor and shopping locally.
Foot traffic crashed
Curbside, deliveries and new customers meant the store didn’t experience declining revenue in March through May. In fact, in May, the numbers went up a bit because summer residents were arriving earlier and stocking up for the summer.
However, the numbers started to decline in June. Foot traffic from tourists and transient boaters has crashed.
“I think July and August will be pretty hard,” she said. “The grant will compensate for the foot traffic I won’t see. That will help us get through the winter.”
At Swallowfield, a year-round gift and housewares shop also on Main Street, owner Jennifer Judd-McGee since March has worked to boost the shop’s online presence along with curbside pickup, deliveries around MDI and shipping.
Courtesy / Swallowfield
Jennifer Judd-McGee, owner of gift and housewares shop Swallowfield, had some success boosting the business’ online presence but has seen overall sales decline substantially.
“That worked well at first because everyone was stuck at home,” she said. “So things like puzzles and art supplies did really well.”
But overall sales are down substantially. On a June day, she’d typically see 25 customers. Since reopening, she’s seeing six at most. Her staff is down from four employees to one-and-a-half. She received a Payroll Protection Program loan that helped for eight weeks. The grant will help with day-to-day working capital, she said.
“It’s really nice to have a little bit of a cushion, seeing that the numbers are already down,” she said. “Usually at this time of year we’re so excited because we’ve stocked up and starting to sell.”
Historical relationship
Brown noted that the Summer Residents Association initiative reflects a historical relationship between the town’s summer and year-round populations.
“Both communities rally together and they endure,” she said. “I feel like this pandemic will help bring an awareness about how much we need each other.”
Boynton agreed.
“It’s important to our entire membership that the local businesses stay strong,” he said. “There are longstanding relationships and friendships that span the summer and year-round communities. We want to see those businesses prosper; we want to see the individuals who own them doing well.”
In Mount Desert, he added, the seasonal economy has become increasingly fragile as people’s vacation habits have changed.
“In the old days, people used to go to Maine for the summer,” he said. “Now more people go for a week or two. So it’s becoming even more challenging for the summer businesses to cover their costs and make a profit. Those businesses all play a central role in the seasonal economy. We want to be sure they continue to be able to operate.”
On its website, the Summer Residents Association offers to share its experience and tools with others wanting to launch a relief fund for businesses in their community. Click here for more information.
In recent years, Northeast Harbor has undertaken something of a reset, after it experienced two devastating downtown fires, in 2008 and 2009.
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