Americans venerate small businesses, although they increasingly spend their money at the giant corporate chains that dominate the markets. During the Covid-19 pandemic, mom-and-pop shops in many communities were hit especially hard, despite (semi-effective) government programs attempting to help them. In Saving Main Street, his thoughtful 11th book, veteran journalist Gary Rivlin (Katrina: After the Flood) follows a group of small-business owners in the Northeast through the first two years of the pandemic.
Rivlin's cast of entrepreneurs includes a Latina hairstylist, a pharmacist, a restaurateur, a Hallmark store owner and three Black brothers making artisan chocolate. Through extensive interviews and research, he illuminates the challenges faced by small businesses even before the pandemic: rising costs, shrinking market share and shifting demographics. He examines the divide between the American perception of small business as an essential community anchor, worthy of support and praise, and the grimmer reality of struggling to stay afloat. Rivlin's subjects vividly recount their experiences, from the initial nationwide shutdown in March 2020 to the confusing back-and-forth of reopening, along with supply-chain issues, arguments over masks and constant stress. The author also puts his subjects' experiences in a national context, discussing the Paycheck Protection Program and the mixed-bag efforts of state and federal officials to navigate the pandemic. He chronicles his subjects' responses to government aid--which include gratitude, frustration and sometimes rage--and their dogged determination to keep going. As the U.S. continues to deal with the effects of Covid-19, Rivlin's book is worthwhile reading for those running or supporting a small business. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams