Carlisle is known for its small businesses. High Street is marked by dozens of them: from vintage clothing shops, to cafés, to a historic Art Deco theater that dates back to the 1930s. They are a unique and key feature of Carlisle. By the same token, the students and staff of Dickinson College “have always been vital patrons of the downtown,” said Joel Hicks, Chair of the Carlisle Council’s Economic Development Committee. However, since students were sent home mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic, Carlisle – like many other college towns – took a big hit, said CEO of Cumberland Area Economic Development (CAEDC), Jamie Keener, in an interview with the Dickinsonian. 

Spoons Cafe, which sits quaintly on West Pomfret Street, is one of the many businesses that has struggled to stay afloat over the last year. According to Spoons’ owner Patrick LeBlanc, Spoons has remained open throughout, providing outdoor seating capacity in accordance with state and county restrictions on indoor dining. Nevertheless, the cafe has experienced an estimated 45-55% decrease in business revenue since March 2020, which “makes it difficult to meet basic monthly expenses”, said LeBlanc. 

Another local business, GQ Barbershop, has faced similar challenges amidst the raging pandemic. GQ Owner, Cook Rasul, explained that he has had to dip into his personal savings in order to sustain the business. “The Barbershop used to take care of itself, it doesn’t now,” he said.

Some places have had to shut their doors completely over the last year. Georgie Lou’s Retro Candy Shop, a ten-year-old family-run business, has remained closed to the public since mid-March of 2020 due to familial underlying conditions. Owner Stephanie Patterson Gilbert said that the shop’s business revenue is down by 74 percent compared to 2019 figures. 

The current predicament that Carlisle businesses find themselves in speaks to a larger trend that is affecting most small businesses across the state and in the country at large. For example, a recent study conducted by Yelp reported that over 160,000 businesses across the country have closed due to COVID-19. Federal data show that in the state of Pennsylvania alone, an estimated 30% of all small businesses have closed since April. While reliable information regarding COVID’s impact on the businesses of Carlisle is still forthcoming, Hicks estimated that approximately eight to ten percent businesses in town have closed over the last year. 

What prevented even more businesses from closing however, were the federal aid packages alongside grant and loan programs administered by the state government. Most notably, in March of 2020, the U.S. Senate passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), which provided Cumberland County with $14 million in funding. “Without those funds, [COVID] would have had more of an impact”, said Keener. Although rollout was initially a slow going, “the results were very positive”, said Hicks. 

This historic pandemic has forced many businesses to rethink their approach to doing business. For those in the food and beverage or retail industry, expanding an online presence has been crucial. In the case of Spoons Cafe, LeBlanc said the cafe has increased its online presence via daily social media posts which has boosted takeout and made up for the loss of the indoor dining business. In addition, while Spoons has typically served as a popular lunch spot, for the first time ever, they now also offer dinner takeout as well. Likewise, a week into Cumberland county’s first lockdown, Georgie Lou’s Candy Shop began adding products to be purchased online for delivery, said Patterson Gilbert. Since then, the store has operated solely via online purchases. 

 “A lot of businesses realized the need to be more flexible, pivot, and realized the whole online opportunity that they hadn’t had the time to investigate before,” said Keener. 

In accordance with CDC guidelines, Rasul requires that all staff and customers wear gloves and a mask upon entering the GQ Barbershop. He even obtained a Barbicide Safe Service certification, “I got a certificate on the Barbicide – sanitation during COVID to have the proper regulation during this time,” he said.

The challenges have spurred the small businesses of Carlisle to find creative ways to support one another’s businesses. In one case, Spoons joined forces with local artists to sell cafe merchandise that can be purchased in-store or over the phone. The local artists are compensated for designing the cafe merchandise while the eatery enhances its brand exposure. 

For Georgie Lou’s Retro Candy shop owner Stephanie, her on-the-side merchant organization called “Destination Carlisle” has provided businesses with a forum to get to know one another and find opportunities to work together. In 2019, the organization gained non-profit status and since the start of the pandemic, it has served as a source of information from which businesses can receive help in navigating pandemic rules, regulations, and challenges. “It helped us see each other less as competition”, she said. In some ways, the circumstances have strengthened the solidarity amongst business owners, reinforcing the idea that “if we’re going to be successful through this, we will do it together,” she added. 

While it is still too soon to tell, as more Dickinson College students return to campus in the coming months, many local businesses hope to see familiar faces return to their shops. LeBlanc said not many people understand what the college means to the downtown. “It’s a big help for us,” he said. Hicks and Keener echoed this sentiment, adding that students and faculty should be cautious and abide by social distancing guidelines, but their support to the downtown is greatly appreciated.

On the Dickinson College website, there is a page titled: COVID-19 created by Dickinson’s Center for Civic Learning and Action, which provides several resources for supporting local businesses. Additionally, the College’s COVID-19 – Give Help page lists community organizations that are still open in the area, alongside the ways in which students can get involved in community engagement during these difficult times.