Merriam Webster’s 2020 Word of the Year was “pandemic,” which for most is no surprise. What is curious is where “resilient” falls on that list. Families,
schools, healthcare workers, universities, and especially small businesses have uprooted their routines and their norms to navigate the new normal.
The Brighton business community came to a near screeching halt when everything shut down back in March. The news was always changing and trying to
get onto a clear and concise path forward didn’t just happen, it took a lot of innovation and creativity for our local businesses to forge ahead. This
Season of Giving story is aimed at highlighting some of this ingenuity we saw from our small businesses.
At first, businesses were required to have zero in-door dining and reduce their staff size by drastic
amounts. With the many restaurants and places to grab a bite to eat that line our Main Streets district, this impact was felt throughout the neighborhood.
Many of the businesses we are so used to taking the family out to, where we met up with friends, or introduced to a special someone were taking the
menus you pondered in a booth to a delivery and takeout service. Businesses were even going as far to make interactions with customers contactless,
to show an additional layer of precaution in keeping them safe. This was no solution, but it allowed them to earn a revenue while neighbors enjoyed
their favorite Brighton cuisines. The Licensing Board even went as far as easing some of their restrictions, giving businesses with the required liquor
license the ability to let their signature cocktails or brews be delivered to your door.
As the weather began to warm-up and COVID-19 case numbers declined, the City of Boston began to loosen up on some regulations that allowed businesses to
have indoor dining at a reduced capacity but provided business owners the opportunity to apply for use of public space and create outdoor dining options
around their business. There were restaurants who claimed parking spaces to provide “parkets” outside, taking over parking spaces to create enough
space for safe dining with protective barriers to even further their customers’ experience. Businesses that had their own parking lots, were able to
create even more expansive dining areas. And any businesses that weren’t able to take advantage of this, they continued to provide safe takeout options,
even doing window pickups for your order.
Small
businesses have been put through the wringer but have stepped up to every challenge. These are not perfect fixes for what our businesses have had to
endure during the pandemic, but they have continued to step up to each of these challenges. The weather has changed and our businesses are facing another
obstacle, but as neighbors we can continue to support each of them. Order takeout or pickup a gift card, you can purchase a growler and have it refilled
through pickup and delivery, but as we highlight how businesses were resilient in providing us a continued go to, we can continue to think creatively
about how we can support them.
Help Brighton Main Streets by considering the Power of Giving Ten.
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If this story inspires you, keep this power of 10 going and show your support by giving $10. Your $10 may not feel like a big deal, but when combine with
10 of your friends and neighbor’s who join you to give $10, that starts to make an exponentially bigger impact. By working together we can do more
than any of us can do alone. That’s the Power of 10.
Looking for more inspiration? Read more Power of 10 stories.