AKRON, Ohio — Akron’s iconic Peanut Shoppe has weathered the ebb and flow of the downtown business district since the 1930s.
Not much has been more challenging than the last few years, when the roughly $45 million, multi-year, Main Street Corridor Project collided head-on with the COVID-19 pandemic, hitting hardest businesses that depend on human interaction.
For the Peanut Shoppe, news the city will offer small-business grants from American Rescue Plan Act funds is welcome, said the shop’s owner, Marge Klein.
“Funds have been low, you know?” she said. “It's like, okay, now what am I going to do? How am I going to do this? I'm always trying to think, you know, who am I going to pay this week.”
Foot traffic to the shop has plunged over the past couple years, with street and sidewalks torn up from storefront to storefront, and traffic routed around orange cones, Klein said.
“The construction took us down pretty good,” she said.
Then came the pandemic.
“We just kind of made up our mind then that we would wait and see what this COVID was about, because we're all kind of up there [in age],” she said, of her and her coworkers.
The Peanut Shoppe closed completely for more than seven months in 2020 and didn’t reopen until the pandemic subsided, she said. The business survived with help from the city and pandemic-related aid.
A true specialty shop, the Peanut Shoppe offers an array of nuts, candies and hot popcorn. The business relies on downtown workers coming in at lunchtime to pick up treats like chocolate-covered almonds, honey cashews and nuts roasted in the shell in roasters originating from the shop’s predecessor, a Planter’s Peanut store, Klein said.
“People will come in and say ‘I have to have some chocolate to get me through the rest of the day,’” Klein said.
Although back to normal hours, the Peanut Shoppe has not seen business return to previous levels, Klein said, in part because downtown workers are only back part-time with many working remotely, and because some storefronts are empty.
“This downtown isn't the same as it used to be,” she said. “When you have retail, it's based on having other retail around you.”
Klein said she will apply for a grant from the city’s Small Business Relief Program, which will award $10,000 grants from $1 million in ARPA funds, the city said in a release.
The grants are designed to help small businesses recover from the pandemic, said Mayor Dan Horrigan.
“Our small businesses are the lifeblood of Akron,” Horrigan said. “They have weathered several storms in the past couple of years between the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing shutdowns, supply chain issues, staffing shortages and more.”
To be eligible for the grants, small businesses must meet a set of requirements the city posted online.
Business can use the funds to pay rent or mortgages, payroll, utility costs, remote access equipment such as computers and software, or costs associated with meeting reopening guidelines, the city said.
The program opens for applications at the Greater Akron Chamber August 15 and closes September 2. The city plans to award the grants in October.
Details are not yet available on an informational webinar the city said it plans to host August 15.
For more information, send an email to the Greater Akron Chamber or call 330-237-1219. Questions also can be mailed to the Greater Akron Chamber, 388 S. Main St., Akron, 443411.