Closures and openings highlight changing face of small business

For about four and a half years, Twisted Root supplied Wrangell residents with organic and natural foods which could be difficult to find in larger grocery stores. That came to an end when the shop closed on Tuesday.

The closure highlights the challenges of owning a small business. While the economic climate has led to some owners taking down their shingle, others have been able to open or expand.

Twisted Root, owned by Sierra Roland, of Moose Pass, on the Kenai Peninsula, was open for almost five years, which is a statistical turning point for most small businesses in the country, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. Fifty percent of small businesses fail within five years, while 20% fail within their first year.

One of the primary reasons for small business failure is the owner's lack of understanding of demand for their products or services. Other reasons include improper money management, poor marketing and inexperienced employees. However, none of those were a factor for Roland's decision to close. It was supply problems.

"A lot of our suppliers have had issues just keeping products in stock," Roland said. "We've also seen nationwide the inflation and a lot of meat processors and bulk-food processors had to close during COVID. Those supply chains never really got re-established."

Skyrocketing wholesale prices were another reason Twisted Root chose to close its doors. Organic foods were already expensive, Roland said, and demand and inflation have driven those costs up. Retail prices two years ago are roughly what wholesale prices are now, she said.

"We had tried to sell it, but pricing issues and things that have impacted the health food area ... we felt it was best not to burden someone else," Roland said.

With the shop closing, two part-time employees will be out of a job at Twisted Root. According to the SBA, small businesses employ 46.4% of workers - about 61.7 million - in the U.S.; 1.5 million jobs are created by small businesses every year in the country.

The closing of Twisted Root, however, has led to the expansion of neighboring business Sweet Tides. When the bakery opened its brick-and-mortar location behind the health food store, owners Shawna Buness and Devyn Johnson had long-term plans to one day expand into the Front Street-facing space Twisted Root occupied.

"We're very excited and nervous, but we're bummed that they (Twisted Root) are leaving," Buness said, adding that she and Johnson reasoned that if Twisted Root left in three to five years, they could expand their business to be a bakery and café, with better visibility than their current alleyway front door.

"Very similar to us opening this space, (Twisted Root's closing) happened much sooner than we expected," Johnson said. "We thought we had years to baby-step our way into it, and here we are six months into our business."

Buness admits that she would like to open the expanded Sweet Tides café sooner rather than later, but they want to do it right, planning and setting up before rushing into anything. The bakery will take over the lease on Nov. 1, but they haven't announced an opening for the new café yet. For now, the business will continue to operate in its alley location.

Despite the many closures that came from of the pandemic, business operations have shifted in the U.S. So far in 2022, there are 33.2 million small businesses, up from 31.7 million two years ago, the SBA reported.

Brittani Robbins, Wrangell Chamber of Commerce executive director, said she believes business is headed in the right direction in town, even though challenges still exist.

"For example, Cedar House Inn, when they first opened, they were hoping to provide sit-down breakfasts," Robbins said. "But ... they're not able to get what they need at the price they can afford. Now, they're back to being an inn with the future hope of having that sit-down breakfast available." She said the inn also helps address the need for lodging in town.

Filling a need is what has led hairstylist Caity Rooney to open her own salon, planned for Dec. 1, a few doors down from Twisted Root. Rooney returned to Wrangell in April, after living in Reno, Nevada, the past 30 years.

"Every time I came to town for the last seven years, I would always have Jenni (Jackson) do my nails because she's amazing," Rooney said about the owner of Pink and White Salon, the space she currently works in as an independent contractor. "When I called her to tell her I was moving home, she let me know she was no longer doing hair or nails, so the place was empty."

Rooney said Jackson decided she didn't want to own the salon anymore, so Rooney made the decision to open her own place, a first for her. It will be called Stone Cold Fox.

"It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up," she said. "I've always been an independent contractor, so this will be new. I'm excited and a little nervous."

At first, Rooney will continue to offer styling, cutting, coloring, extensions and smoothing treatments. She will look at offering more services as she gets more established and familiar with business operations. She believes the move to ownership was the right time since the demand in town has been so high.

"Wrangell really needed another hairstylist," she said. Rooney speaks highly of all the other stylists. "I think all the other stylists in town were so overwhelmed with clients and trying to fit everyone in, that I'm able to take the pressure off of them. It seems to be working out pretty well for everybody as far as I know."

When it comes to what it takes to succeed in business, former owner of Shop Groundswell, Mya DeLong, said it takes determination.

"It's difficult," she said. "Looking back at my own struggles, you have to keep your drive and commitment. I was told my own business wouldn't make it." DeLong closed after six years to retire and focus on other projects. She believes that businesses in the community need to work together to promote one another and discuss the problems they face.

"We were somewhere onto that, then the pandemic hit, and people had to do what they had to survive," she said."

Robbins has been conducting a survey to find out how the chamber can better help businesses, to which she received a "lot of good feedback."

"I think as long as we continue to move in the direction where we have affordable housing and availabilities, that we can move in the right direction, slow but steady in an upward trajectory, rather than the plateau that we're in," she said.