ADAMS, Mass. - Many storefronts in Adams are sitting empty. It's a problem which has gotten worse because of the pandemic.​

Downtown Adams member Stephen Stenson, said, "Downtown Adams has been affected that last 15 years with retail, declining retail, and that accelerated the past year because of COVID.  Anecdotally, we've lost about 10 percent of the businesses."

To help address the issue, Downtown Adams -- a group of business owners and developers -- received a $60,000 Rapid Recovery grant from the state this week.

The first step will be to survey downtown businesses.

Downtown Adams member Heather Cachet Blake said, "We're going to ask different questions about how they've been affected by COVID, how they feel about the town itself affects their business, whether it be traffic or things like that."

"And so our focus is going to be, once we get the data, it's not going to be good enough to get us back to where we were before, and what are the opportunities available from us." said fellow Downtown Adams member, Howard Rosenburg.

The goal is to provide several proposals for new projects by the end of the summer.

Cachet Blake said she anticipates there will be an emphasis on increasing foot traffic downtown. Cachet Blake said, "If we can get the people to be able to come downtown, whether it be through different community events, or little parklets, stuff for kids to do, I have a feeling those are the things that are really going to come up."

Most of the projects will be implemented by the end of this year.

Member Stephen Stenson hopes it will bring some much needed, long-term change.

"Main Street has changed, and what's required of Main Street has changed, and so downtown needs to adapt to the new retail environment, and also business environment. So Main Street will change, and this grant gives us an opportunity to get ahead of that change."