Amid the pandemic, when many universities were struggling with how to do remote classes, Husson University was opening its signature College of Business building.
Harold Alfond Hall, as the building is known, was built at a cost of $17.5 million, $4 million of which was supplied by the Harold Alfond Foundation.
We have Harold Alfond to thank but also Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway bought Alfond’s Dexter Shoe Co. for $433 million in Berkshire Hathaway stock. The Alfond name is on many schools and universities in Maine.
In the past year, small businesses in Maine weathered quarantines, shutdowns, mandates of all kinds. Many dealt with a loss of revenue and an even more significant loss of employees.They adapted their business to online ordering and curbside pickup, often investing dollars they didn’t necessarily have to spend. They scrambled to apply for Paycheck Protection Program relief.
Yet if those businesses survived 2020 if they’re still standing today they’re likely stronger than they were a year ago.
This focus on small business has a range of stories not only of survival, but change and growth.
In a round-up looking at different businesses, Laurie Schreiber talks to the captains of a tall ship whose home port is Rockland, the owners of a general store in Machias, the partners in a Cape Elizabeth lumber yard that started during the pandemic and others. See “Small businesses keep their cool,” which starts on Page 14.