Nov 1, 2014

Personal Stories of Hope and Investment by Young Business Owners in Retail-rich NorthamptonBy Hunter StylesGazetteNet.com

Northampton, MA – On the day Ben Glushein opened Port MA, his new Main Street clothing store, he received a small potted cactus. The cactus came from the home goods store Kestrel on Masonic Street, owned and run by Eliza Jane Bradley, where it was bought by Kristin Kelly, the owner of Ode Boutique on Main Street, and brought to Glushein as a housewarming gift.

“We both sell clothing, so I figured he wouldn’t want clothing as a gift,” Kelly says. “I thought a plant was nice. It really takes a while to get settled into a new space, so I thought it’d be nice to give him something that can grow.”

Even in a good economic climate, one out of three small businesses opening nationally will close after two years of operations, and half will close after five years, according to a 2012 report from the Small Business Administration. It’s easy to forget, as we hurry along the colorful blur of a commercial street, that each new sign going up on or coming down from a storefront’s door tells a personal story of hope and investment.

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