Online Petition & Business Donations Save Toy Store From Closing
Update: The store has raised the $76,000 needed to stay in business.
EDWARDSVILLE, IL (KTVI)–A family-owned small business in Edwardsville facing financial extinction may be saved.
The bank says the family who owns it loses the store Friday, unless they can come up with $76,000 in one lump sum. They may make it, thanks to an online fund-raising campaign and other businesses donating part of their sales.
In a universe of impersonal big box stores, greedy banks, and every-man-for-himself CEO`s, this is what community looks like.
Other independent businesses across Edwardsville are donating 10 percent of their sales Thursday to keep this independent toy store open. That`s right, businesses donating profits to another business.
And from the locally-owned kitchen supply store to the locally owned party store, these small capitalists are pitching in to save one of their own.
This is not the kind of lesson you`d get in business school. Maybe it should be.
What happened here is that a bank refused to renew the shop`s business loan for another year, so they`re demanding the $76,000. But if the online effort and these business donations raise the money, the bank will extend the loan. And if the money`s raised, it`ll be because of kindness and a sense of community, maybe because it takes a village to save a business.
