Main Street Business Insights

2024 Predictions for Main Street Businesses

Welcome to Season 2 of Main Street Business Insights! In our first episode of the season, you’ll hear from host Matt Wagner about his predictions for the small business landscape in 2024. This episode focuses on the macroeconomic technology and societal trends that he believes will impact the work of Main Street leaders and the businesses we seek to nurture and support. Given the topics and guests coming up in Season 2, this episode is meant to lay out the issues, trends, and shifts that our business owners are likely to experience in the coming year.  
Matt will break down his predictions from last year – the misses, the wins, and a push prediction from 2023. Plus, he’ll use data, stories, and anecdotal evidence to make his six predictions for 2024.  
Further Reading: 2024 Predictions Blog | 2023 Predictions Blog | 2022 Predictions Blog 

Tips for Connecting with Community

We’re hard at work on season two, capturing fresh conversations with business owners around the country. In the meantime, we wanted to put out some bonus episodes with highlights from season one. Each of the three bonus episodes will focus on a different theme, and will be released in the weeks leading up to the launch of season 2 in late January.
In this bonus episode, you'll hear from small business owners from our first season who make connecting with their community a top priority. They share tips on how to build strong relationships with local people and organizations -- and build the case for why other small business owners should consider integrating community development into their core practices. 
This episode features:
Christine Hollerbach, CEO of Hollerbach's German Restaurant in Sanford, Florida.
Listen to the full episode here.
Jamie and Jerry Baker, co-owners of Trendy Teachers in Rome, Georgia
Listen to the full episode here.
Martha Moore and Ashley Owens, co-owners and founders of Martha & Ash in Camden, South Carolina
Listen to the full episode here.
Kenneth Bentley, co-host of The Barbershop Conversation podcast, based in Goldsboro, Florida.
Listen to the full episode here.
Harvey Williams, co-founder and CEO of Delta Dirt Distillery in Helena, Arkansas
Listen to the full episode here.
Terrand Smith, founder and CEO of 37 Oaks in Chicago, Illinois
Listen to the full episode here.
Danny Reynolds, owner of Stephenson's of Elkhart in Elkhart, Indiana
Listen to the full episode here.
Lindsay McDonald Goodson, CEO of Keith McDonald Plumbing in Milledgeville, Georgia
Listen to the full episode here.
Amber Lambke, co-founder and CEO of Maine Grains in Skowhegan, Maine. 
Listen to the full episode here.
Anette Soto Landeros, co-owner of Casa Azul Coffee and President and CEO of the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Fort Worth, Texas
Listen to the full episode here.

Advice for Other Main Street Entrepreneurs

While we work on season two, capturing fresh conversations with business owners around the country, enjoy the second of three bonus episodes, featuring some of our favorite moments from season one. This week’s episode we’ve gathered some of the best advice we heard from entrepreneurs and community leaders across the country. First up is Christina Hollerbach, second generation owner of her family’s restaurant in Sanford, Florida. She shares some great insights into how Main Street businesses can create and foster strong brand identities.

Working with Your Local Main Street Organization

We’re hard at work on season two, capturing fresh conversations with business owners around the country. In the meantime, we wanted to put out some bonus episodes with highlights from season one. Each of the three bonus episodes will focus on a different theme, and this week we’re hearing about how local entrepreneurs have leveraged the power of a Main Street community to establish, maintain, and grow their ventures.
 
This episode features:
- Amber Lambke, co-founder and CEO of Maine Grains in Skowhegan, Maine. Listen to the full episode here.
- Kenneth Bentley, Davion Hampton, Emory Green Jr., The Barbershop Conversation podcast team in Goldsboro, Florida. Listen to the full episode here.
- Christina Hollerbach, CEO of Hollerbach's German Restaurant in Sanford, Florida. Listen to the full episode here.
- Harvey Williams, CEO of Delta Dirt Distillery in Helena, Arkansas. Listen to the full episode here.
- Anette Soto Landeros, co-owner of Casa Azul Coffee and President and CEO of the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Fort Worth, Texas. Listen to the full episode here. In this episode, Anette refers to the GM on Main Street grant. To learn about this program, please click here.
 

Trendy Teachers Founders and Co-Owners Jamie and Jerry Baker

In this episode of Main Street Business Insights, Matt sits down with Jamie and Jerry Baker, co-owners and founders of Trendy Teachers, a teaching boutique and educational toy store located in downtown Rome, Georgia. A “unique boutique” for teachers, Trendy Teachers provides classroom supplies, décor, custom clothing, and educational toys and materials both through an online store and their brick-and-mortar shop in downtown Rome. 
Trendy Teachers opened in 2020 towards the beginning of the pandemic. Jamie, a retired teacher, and her husband Jerry, who previously worked in corporate retail, were both going through career transitions at the time. While searching for her next vocational step, Jamie learned from local teacher friends that all the nearby teaching supply stores had closed. Teachers had to drive more than an hour to Atlanta to purchase supplies in-person. She approached Jerry with the idea of launching a teaching supply store in Rome – and with his background in corporate retail, he was on board.  
Three years later, Trendy Teachers has now moved to a larger location and added an educational toy store arm to the business. This fast-paced growth can be attributed to Jamie and Jerry’s quick adaptation to a bricks-and-clicks strategy and a consistent and strategic marketing strategy that is highly targeted to their specific audience. 
In their conversation, Matt, Jamie, and Jerry discuss their unique path to entrepreneurship, pivoting their business strategy to appeal to broader audiences, the importance of community and collaboration, and advice for other business owners. 
Further Reading: Learn about Trendy Teachers | Learn about Historic Downtown Rome | Learn about Georgia Main Street |

Casa Azul Coffee Co-Owner Anette Soto Landeros

In this episode of Main Street Business Insights, Matt sits down with Anette Soto Landeros, co-owner of Casa Azul Coffee and President and CEO of the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Fort Worth, Texas.  
Prior to her current roles, Anette spent 12 years working in federal government, first as an analyst in the Inspector General’s Office of the U.S. Department of Transportation in Washington D.C., and later in the Inspector General’s office in Fort Worth. Raised in Texas, moving to Fort Worth was something of a homecoming – she fell in love with the community, and soon became involved with various community non-profits and business-serving organizations, such as serving on the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce board. In 2019, she took on the full-time role of President and CEO. 
Not long after, in 2021, Anette and her husband Joseph Landeros opened Casa Azul Coffee. Casa Azul is the first and only coffee shop in Fort Worth’s Northside, which according to the latest census, has a 78 percent Hispanic population and is considered one of four Latino “Barrios” in Fort Worth. While residents had long been asking for a coffee franchise to open in their neighborhood, they were repeatedly told that they weren’t the target demographic. Anette and her husband were already considering opening a business in the neighborhood – but when they heard this, they knew their charge. 
Today, you can find the appropriately named Casa Azul in a brightly painted cobalt-blue, aqua, and kelly green house in the heart of the Northside district. Serving Latin-inspired coffee and pastries such as pan dulce, conchas, churro lattes, matcha-coladas, and more, Casa Azul not only provides coffee to locals, but also unapologetically celebrates residents’ culture and heritage. 
In their conversation, Matt and Anette discuss her path to entrepreneurship, how her experience in public policy informs her work, her thoughts on creating economic growth while lessening the impact of gentrification and displacement, and her advice for other business owners. 
Further Reading: Learn about Casa Azul Coffee | Learn about the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce | Learn about Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s GM on Main Grant Project | Read a Main Spotlight blog about the Historic Northside District authored by Anette | Learn about Fort Worth Main Street | Learn about Texas Main Street 

Stephenson’s of Elkhart Owner and President Danny Reynolds

In this episode of Main Street Business Insights, Matt sits down with Danny Reynolds, owner and president of Stephenson’s of Elkhart, an independently owned high-end fashion retailer in downtown Elkhart, Indiana. For more than 90 years, Stephenson’s has undergone several transformations – from custom tailoring to everyday fashions to special occasions – always with a strong focus on customer service and community involvement. 
Stephenson’s opened its doors in October 1931 as an upscale, appointment-only dress shop. Since the mid-1960s, the business has been owned by the Reynolds family – first by Danny’s parents, then transitioning ownership to Danny in 1994.  
When Danny took over as owner in the mid-1990s, change was on the horizon. Small businesses across the country, particularly retail, were facing an uncertain economic future. In the height of the big box store boom with online shopping on the horizon, Danny knew that if Stephenson’s was going to survive on Main Street, they would need to provide services and meet needs outside of what larger retailers were already doing. So today, Stephenson’s offers high-end clothing for special occasions, including bridal, homecoming, sportswear, and high-end men’s wear. This change is largely due to the in-person experience customers prefer when purchasing special occasion wear. Over the course of the last three decades, Danny has maintained this attitude of constant adaptation and transformation, always looking for the unique ways thatStephenson’s can meet his customers where they’re at. 
In their conversation, Matt and Danny discuss the overall economic landscape for clothing retailers, how Stephenson’s continues to carve out a successful niche, and the importance of connecting with customers on a personal level as well as the community at large. 
Further Reading: Learn about Stephenson’s of Elkhart | Learn about the National Retail Federation | Learn about Downtown Elkhart | Learn about Indiana Main Street  

Delta Dirt Distillery Co-Owner and CEO Harvey Williams

In this episode, Matt sits down with Harvey Williams, Co-Founder and CEO of Delta Dirt Distillery in Helena, Arkansas. Delta Dirt Distillery is the only black-owned farm-to-bottled distillery in the United States, and is a family-owned craft distillery, producing high-quality vodka out of sweet potatoes grown on the Williams family farm. 
Harvey grew up working on his family farm in Helena. He married his high school sweetheart, Donna, who now serves as Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer at Delta Dirt. After several years doing a variety of jobs across the country, Harvey and Donna moved back home to raise their two children at the family farm. (Their sons, Thomas and Donavan now work alongside their parents at the distillery, serving as Head Distiller and Operations Manager, respectively.)  
The family farm has been in operation since the late 1800s, when Harvey’s grandfather purchased the land on which he had been sharecropping. When Harvey Sr. inherited the land from his father, he was faced with the difficult reality that the relatively small acreage wasn’t enough to sustain traditional row crop farming. Instead, he decided to diversify the operation, reinventing the farm for vegetable production, mainly sweet potatoes, and soon began shipping out for national distribution. 
As a continuation of that ingenuity, Harvey Jr., along with his brother Kennard, decided to reinvent the farm once again in 2017, experimenting with crafting vodka from their sweet potatoes. After many years and plenty of trial and error, Delta Dirt Distillery was born. Today, it offers award-winning spirits including both vodka and gin, available in retail stores across six states across the South and shipping nationwide. The family also operates a tasting room with a variety of specialty cocktails imbued with their products.  
In their conversation, Matt and Harvey discuss the family’s legacy with farming and entrepreneurship, the innovative ways they have overcome unexpected challenges, how their tasting room has fostered community, and the advice Harvey has for other small business owners. 
Lastly, in Matt's intro, he references data from the Black Farmers' Network, founded by Dr. Veronica Womack of Georgia College. Click here to learn more about the Black Farmers' Network.
 
Further Reading: Learn about Delta Dirt Distillery | Follow Delta Dirt Distillery on Instagram | Learn about Main Street Helena | Learn about Main Street Arkansas 

Keith McDonald Plumbing CEO Lindsay Goodson McDonald

In this episode of Main Street Business Insights, host Matt Wagner sat down with the CEO of Keith McDonald Plumbing in Milledgeville, Ga., Lindsay Goodson McDonald.  
In their conversation, Lindsay discusses her path to small business ownership. Lindsay began her work in plumbing in 2009. After losing her job in Athens, Ga. during the national recession, she moved back home to Milledgeville to help her father with the family business. At the time, Lindsay said, “I totally hated it. Hate’s not even enough of a word.” It wasn’t until several years later when her father wanted to begin scaling the service side of the business into new locations that Lindsay became more interested, and eventually passionate, about the work.  
Around five years ago, Keith began planning for retirement and was slowly scaling back, allowing Lindsay to take on more of a leadership role. Unfortunately, the gradual succession plan was cut short when, in 2021, Keith tragically passed away during the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing Lindsay to decide whether to sell the business or take over as CEO. She made the decision to stay on, recognizing that she would need to make significant changes and scale back in certain areas in order to maintain the company without her father. Even with these changes, Lindsay says, the company has begun to grow and scale in new areas, largely due to her adaptation to innovative new technologies. 
In the episode, Lindsay talks through the challenges and lessons learned from being a woman leading a company in a male-dominated industry, the importance of adapting to new technologies, overcoming imposter syndrome, and her passion for community development work.   
Background Reading: Learn about McDonald Plumbing | Learn about Downtown Milledgeville | Learn about Georgia Main Street 

Hollerbach German Restaurant CEO, Christina Hollerbach

In this week’s episode of Main Street Business Insights, host Matt Wagner sat down with the CEO of Hollerbach’s German Restaurant in Sanford, Fla., Christina Hollerbach. In addition to providing an authentic German food and beverage experience to guests, Hollerbach’s also includes a German market, art gallery, outfitters, and an entertainment venue. In 2019, Hollerbach’s founded the Hollerbach’s Has Heart Family Foundation to provide grants to hospitality workers to pursue education and/or business certifications and provided financial relief to hospitality workers throughout the global pandemic. 
The restaurant was opened in 2001 by Christina’s parents, Linda and Theo Hollerbach. Christina transitioned into the role of CEO in 2020. As CEO, Christina focuses on the importance of creating a healthy organizational culture by instilling a sense of community among her employees. In her conversation with Matt, Christina discusses how she has created and led a thriving company culture through the pandemic and beyond, her strategies for growth and expansion, and advice for newer Main Street business owners.  
Background reading: Learn about Hollerbach’s German Restaurant | Learn about Christina | Learn about Sanford Main Street