Small Business Week: Support Mom And Pop Shops In Anne Arundel

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MD — This week is Small Business Week. Mom-and-pop shops in Anne Arundel need support now more than ever, a local business leader said. He encouraged residents to patronize the county's 21,200 small businesses.

Patch recently partnered with several local organizations to bring you their latest news. This guest contribution comes from the Anne Arundel Chamber of Commerce. Here's what President and CEO Mark Kleinschmidt wrote about Small Business Week:

"Every year[,] the Small Business Administration (SBA) has designated the first week of May as Small Business Week. This is a time to recognize the major contributions that small businesses make to the US economy and to our local community.

During the COVID-19 crisis[, it's] even more important to recognize the value of small businesses since they felt the impact of the pandemic to a much larger degree than large corporations and have struggled to survive.

We hear it all the time, “small business is the economic [engine] that [makes] the US economy go”. But what does that actually mean?

When the SBA talks about a small business, they are referring to those businesses with less than 500 employees[.] According to the SBA, there are 30.7 million small businesses in the US[,] and they employ nearly half of the private workforce.

From 1993 to 2016, small businesses comprised nearly 62% of total new jobs, and in 2019, they created approximately two million new jobs.

The COVID-19 crisis has been nothing short of devastating for brick-and-mortar small businesses. The SBA reported that since the start of the pandemic, small business employers bore the brunt of the job loss[.

Tens] of thousands were not only temporarily closed due to COVID restrictions but have permanently closed because economic activity came to a halt[. They] had no current revenue or reserves like a large corporate entity might have.

As we enter Small Business Week 2021, many small businesses are just hanging on.

Inside the Small Business Statistics

Let’s dig a little deeper into the numbers to better understand just what the small business community means to us.

In Anne Arundel County[,] there are 24,500 businesses[,] and only twenty-one have more than 500 employees. In my view, a business with 500 employees might not be a publicly traded multinational corporation[,] but it is a significant operation and is not really a small business.

It might be easier to define a small business by gross revenue, but that data is not readily available. So, let’s stick with the number of employees[. With] that in mind, I would suggest a better definition of a small business would be twenty or fewer employees.

Using this metric, we see the vast majority of businesses in Anne Arundel County, almost 91% or 21,200, have fewer [than] 20 employees.

While the facts and statistics are interesting, the reality is that small businesses are much more than numbers[. In] many ways[,] they are the heart and soul of our community.

They are the foundation of our neighborhoods and are owned and operated by people we know because we went to high school with them or from our kids’ school activities, from a Navy football game or seeing them at church.

Many of them started their businesses because they grew up here or because they love the Anne Arundel County area. They have the best idea of what people in our community like or want because they live here and not because corporate research tells them.

A small business represents the passion and dreams of the owner. They offer the products and services that we really need daily and provide a much higher level of customer service than offered by ... large “corporate” businesses. That’s why we call them “mom and pop” businesses ... because we love and trust them.

At the height of the COVD recession[,] we had [a] glimpse of what the world would be like without small business, and it was not pretty. Almost all of us have family members and friends [who] work for small businesses[. We] got to “feel their pain” as they had to shut down their operations and struggle to make ends meet.

Spread the Word: Small Business Matters

Buying from a small business will make a huge impact – not only for the owners but for our entire economy.

Next time you go shopping, head out to dinner or need work done on your house, make sure you seek out a local small business. If you’re already a customer at your local businesses, let your friends and family know how happy you are.

Small businesses rely on word-of-mouth marketing to bring new customers through the door, so talk them up with your family and friends. Use social media to spread the word and share your experience with your favorite local small business. Get to know the business owners and employees.

Remember, you’re not only supporting the local economy, but you are also participating in someone’s passion.

Spread the word---SMALL BUSINESS MATTERS.

Mark Kleinschmidt is the President/CEO of the Anne Arundel Chamber of Commerce located in Annapolis, MD."

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Have a story idea? Please contact me at jacob.baumgart@patch.com with any pitches, tips or questions. Follow me on Twitter @JacobBaumgart and on Facebook @JacobBaumgartJournalist to stay up-to-date with the latest Anne Arundel County and Prince George's County news.