Aim of Meredith chamber online auction: Aid small businesses

MEREDITH — Since the middle of March, Natalie Taylor’s business has been in a deep freeze. She owns Artisan Eyewear in downtown Meredith and, as a relatively new venture without any employees, she’s found that most of the small business lifelines offered by the government didn’t work for her. And when she thinks of other businesses nearby, she thinks she’s got plenty of company.

“I know that in Meredith I’m not the only small business owner who doesn’t have any employees,” Taylor said, referring to other budding businesses that were starting to grow roots. “It felt like Meredith Main Street was really getting going. I didn’t want to see anybody close for good.”

While the Payroll Protection Plan didn’t offer anything for her, she did know of one thing that could help – at least it did for a similar business on the other side of the country. She is friends with an optician in Durango, Colorado, and that shop’s local Chamber of Commerce set up an online auction for local small businesses where they could offer gift cards, services or products for the public to bid on from the safety of their own home.

“It was a huge success, so many small businesses were able to pay their rent because of this,” Taylor said.

She brought the idea to Sandy Marshall, director of the Meredith Area Chamber of Commerce, who took the idea and ran with it. The “Meredith Area Shares the Love” auction starts on Friday and lasts for 10 days.

The chamber has partnered with Meredith Village Savings Bank and Franklin Savings Bank to cover administrative costs, so every penny raised by the auction will go to the participating businesses.

Marshall said the goal of the auction was to bring in revenue for businesses when many are struggling in the present, and uncertain of the future.

Even though retail shops can open their doors again, and restaurants can start serving patrons outdoors, Marshall said her chamber members aren’t expecting anything like a normal summer.

“A lot of the small businesses are trying to open, but they’re still being super cautious. They have signs at their doors, please wear masks, please wear gloves, please keep social distance,” Marshall said. “It’s interesting, because Memorial Day Weekend is coming, but nobody knows what that means.”

In Taylor’s case, she is changing her business from a walk-in service model to appointment-only, so she has time to sanitize her eyewear and the shop after every customer. Even though she’s not among the most at-risk for the virus, she is concerned about others who are.

“I take care of someone who is very high-risk, I just need to be more militant than your average 35-year-old.”

These extra measures cost entrepreneurs time and money, which they didn’t bargain for in their business plan, Marshall said, and there’s no telling how long they will have to factor in these extra expenses.

“There’s so much unknown, and that’s what’s such a struggle for local businesses,” Marshall said.

Though the auction is being run by the Meredith Area Chamber, Marshall said any business in the Lakes Region can participate. They can offer up to three items and choose either a starting bid or a fixed buy-it-now price. Once an item sells or the auction ends, 100% of the purchase price will go to the business that offered the item for auction.

For details, visit meredithareachamber.com.

“Even with things beginning to open, we have a long way to go before things will feel normal again,” Marshall said. “Anything we can do to help is a step in the right direction.”