South Side businesses forge forward despite coronavirus pandemic
(A photo of the previous location of Its Major Inc. Courtesy of Its Major Inc via Facebook.)
While the world is in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and small businesses are going through an interesting time. Some small businesses are coming up with different solutions to keep going. Already, business owners have adjusted to the current economic climate by reducing hours for employees. Continue reading to see what some South Side business owners had to say.
(Editor’s Note: Its Major Inc. has moved to another location, so the address in this story and the address on the website linked, do not match)
Located at 1721 E. 79th St., Its Major Inc. has been in business on the South Side for 16 years. Co-founder Phillip Danzy has mentioned losing profit and a reduction of working hours due to the coronavirus pandemic. He also expressed some of his concerns about his employees. Customers are able to place orders by phone or online with the choice of either picking up their orders or having them delivered.
“I feel like I have been taking a chance on my employees just not coming to work,” said Danzy. “We’re taking a chance on allowing people to come to work when they have not been tested.”
(Build Coffee, a coffee shop and bookstore located at 6100 S. Blackstone Ave. Courteous of Build Coffee via Instagram.)
At 6100 S. Blackstone Ave., Build Coffee has been at its current location since June of 2017. The community facility began using the platform Bookshop.org as a means of selling books that are available inside of the store. By purchasing books through bookshop.org, a percentage of those funds will go directly to Build Coffee.
Co-founder Hannah Nyhart mentioned that this effort was in the works prior to the pandemic. However, the pandemic introduced some “urgency” to this effort.
In order to further support Build Coffee and its employees, a GoFundMe was set up.
More details are mentioned in their most recent newsletter.
(A photo of someone standing outside of Pilsen Vintage. Courtesy of Pilsen Vintage via Instagram.)
A thrift store in the Pilsen community called “Pilsen Vintage” has been in business for over a decade.
Pilsen Vintage, located at 1430 W 18th St, has not had much of an online presence. Due to the pandemic, the decision was made to construct a website selling online merchandise.
Paul Guizar, the owner of Pilsen Vintage, is looking into applying into various loans as assistance for employees and the upkeep of the thrift store. There are currently five part time workers and one volunteer. He mentioned his hesitancy on creating a crowdfunding source.
“We want to try and be independent and work as hard as we can in any way we can,” said Guizar. “We want to sustain ourselves for as long as we can.”