Local Business : The Ties That Bind
Surviving the Shutdown ; Innovation and Collaboration
By Kimberly Ewertz
In this unprecedented time of uncertainty and disconnectedness , the Gilroy and Morgan Hill communities have rallied to the aid of their local businesses . “ I ’ ve been amazed at the community support for our small businesses , and not just downtown , but all the small businesses throughout the city ,” Gary Walton , President of the Gilroy Downtown Business Association , said .
“ Small businesses have innovated and done a lot of things they haven ’ t had to do in the past and they ’ ve kept the doors open .”
Morgan Hill ’ s Downtown Association President , and co-owner of Bubbles and Brew , David Dindak , admits the pandemic has been tough . “ But I think that between us and the Chamber and the City all coming together to come up with different ideas , it has helped ,” he said . He pointed to the Meals for Heroes program as a perfect example of that collaboration .
“ The restaurant community are collecting donations from the community and we ’ re having sixty meals a day being sent to our health care workers who are keeping people safe and saving lives at St . Louise and De Paul Medical Center ,” Dindak explained . “ That ’ s our way to serve those health care workers and thank them for what they ’ re doing . It ’ s also helping the restaurants to keep the lights on . So it ’ s a win-win .”
Morgan Hill ’ s Chamber of Commerce President and CEO , Brittney Sherman , is happy to report that businesses are still investing in Morgan Hill even during the pandemic .
“ We have some large manufacturing companies that are coming in . One of the schools , Voices Academy , is breaking ground for an expansion , we still have a lot of advancement ,” Sherman said . “ It ’ s been amazing to see .”
The collaboration between the Business Association
and the Chamber of Commerce has also proven beneficial . “ The city actually contracted the Chamber to run a buy-local campaign … that collaboration has paid off a million times for the business community ,” Sherman said .
Gilroy residents Dan McCranie and his wife Kathy , owners of Ladera Grill , didn ’ t let the pandemic stop them from opening their new business in Morgan Hill , Colibri Gallery .
“ We actually had our opening during this Covid mess ,” McCranie said . “ We did it outside , over two hundred people signed up in the middle of Covid . We had a very strong quarter three , and quarter four , in both framing and in the selling of fine art …. which was very encouraging .”
McCranie was equally amazed at the community support when outdoor dining first opened up .
“ We were doing about seventy-five percent of our sales — with only our outside seating — and our outside seating is only twenty percent of our total ,” McCranie said . “ We ’ ve gotten extraordinary support from Morgan Hill City , from the Morgan Hill elected officials , and the Morgan Hill residents have come to all the restaurants … it ’ s been wonderful . They ’ ve been spectacular .”
John Lang , Economic Development Manager of Morgan Hill , explained that a lot of the focus this past year went to aiding the restauranteurs and retailers , by “ spinning up different programs as part of our recovery framework to try and help some of the challenges ,” Lang said . He pointed out that relatively few businesses have permanently closed .
“ We ’ ve been very fortunate , and businesses have done everything that they can to bootstrap for as long as they can ,” Lang said . He said that a number of new businesses have successfully opened during Covid-19 .
Those businesses include Mo ’ s , Chacho ’ s , Mountain
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