RESPONDING A & Y SA D A E R
Community The pandemic emphasized the city’s resiliency, creativity and closeness as businesses adapt and residents are loyal to buying local. BY KRISTEN HAMPSHIRE
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f you told Ann Thomas that the family-owned organic craft distillery she started with her husband Kevin would add hand sanitizer to their menu of spirits, she might have thought the suggestion came from someone who was clearly over the limit. “Trust me, we never thought hand sanitizer would come into our lives,” quips Thomas, sharing that Western Reserve Distillers sold 60,000 gallons of it during a three-month period at the start of the pandemic when companies like Purell couldn’t make it fast enough. “The base ingredient is purse alcohol, and as a craft distiller, that is what we use to make our corn vodka,” she relates. Western Reserve Distillers followed the World Health Organization’s recipe for hand sanitizer and created a liquid that can be sprayed as a fine mist and dries quickly. It doesn’t bleach out fabrics or leave a film on surfaces. “As soon as we found out we could make this, we hired 10 people and ran 24-hour shifts five days a week,” Thomas says. “Our concern was making sure that main-street customers — people who couldn’t get their hands on it — were getting what they need.” The distillery added five products and launched in five additional states during the pandemic — a show of responding to community’s needs, resiliency and growth. At Aladdin’s Eatery, a Lakewood dining staple since 1994,
dedicated employees at the tight-knit store masked up, adapted to health and safety protocols, and grew closer as a team while getting to know customers even better, says Dani Krasnicki, area director of the West Side. The business also hired more people and was able to provide employee bonuses. “We got to know our guests on a different level,” says Krasnicki, speaking to the curbside carryout add-on. “We got to meet their dogs or their infants that they might not have brought in for a pick-up order before. We got to see their lives change, as well, and we made different connections with people.” Small business is the backbone of Lakewood, representing about 75% of the city’s 12,000 workers, says Shawn Leininger, director of planning and development. Overall, Lakewood has more than 1,900 employers. “We have all learned how to adapt and become more resilient,” he says, adding that businesses were “engaged, active and offered a lot of positive feedback that helped us form and evolve programs.” Specifically, the city was the first in the state to create a small business assistance program from CARES act dollars that offers up to $7,000 in rent and job retention financial support to businesses with less than 50 employees. The program is still open and has provided more than $840,000 in assistance to 200-plus businesses.
