With stores closed, local bookstores lean on online sales

Mar 31, 2020
At Bookshop.org, a platform for independent bookstores, sales are way up.
Keystone/Getty Images

Despite imminent federal aid, small businesses are desperate

Mar 27, 2020
Many have already laid off their entire staff.
Many small businesses are struggling during the COVID-19 slowdown.
Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images

The restaurant industry is already struggling to stay afloat

Mar 17, 2020
With coronavirus keeping people at home, restaurants are shutting their doors and shifting their business models to adapt to the crisis.
An empty restaurant, like this one was on Monday in Brooklyn, is an increasingly common sight across the U.S.
Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

For these retailers, the holiday season is crucial — and has deadlines

Dec 18, 2019
This holiday season, we're following several retailers from the end of November to the start of the New Year. This is part two of our series.
A holiday sale in New York City.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

A flower shop in Maine roots for newly arrived refugees

Dec 13, 2019
In Cynthia Anderson's "Home Now," Somalis and Congolese transform a former mill town. At a flower shop there, wariness turns to warmth.
Jamilo Maalim, on the phone, with her daughter Aaliyah and friend Binto at Mogadishu Store in Lewiston.
Amy Toensing

Small retailers face the extra challenge of negotiating tariffs

Nov 28, 2019
Big retailers can negotiate to keep tariff-induced price hikes at bay. That's hard for small businesseses.

The big problem for small business? Finding qualified people to hire

Nov 12, 2019
One in four small businesses is having a hard time recruiting, according to the National Federation of Independent Business.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

A small bike shop with a big, customer-first idea

Sep 10, 2019
HubBub Bicycles specializes in something you can't easily buy online.
Diane and Brian Jenks riding their tandem bicycle on a trip to Israel.
Courtesy of Diane Jenks

Recession talk begins to wear on small businesses

Sep 10, 2019
Owners were slightly less optimistic in August than the previous month.
The graph representing the Stock is seen on a TV screen at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on August 14, 2019 in New York City.
JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images

How veterans are faring in the tight labor market

Sep 5, 2019
One out of every 10 businesses in the U.S. is owned by veterans, and most of those are small businesses. But, like the rest of American workers, low unemployment is changing how they are entering the workforce.
Veterans attend the first Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) Job Fair for Veterans in Los Angeles, California on September 14, 2016.
read FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images