3 Things You Should Know About Small Business: Dec. 9
What's happening in small business today?
1. Commercial real estate bust hits small businesses. STLToday.com reports on how a group of small businesses in one Missouri town is being hit by the commercial real estate bust. The businesses are being forced to relocate to make way for a CVS(CVS) pharmacy after the landlord's bank foreclosed. Providence Bank President Brett Burri said the bank was trying to work with the tenants. "It's a difficult situation that none of us want to be in," he says in the article. The issue is likely one replicated in towsn across the U.S. as the recession affects not only residential housing, but commercial properties as well. Small businesses are often "unaware how a delinquent landlord can suddenly mean onerous relocation costs and disrupted business," the article says. In this case, the mayor of St. Peters, Mo., has stepped in, but also finds himself in a predicament of appeasing a nationwide drugstore chain (and sales tax generator) vs. small local businesses. Mayor Len Pagano wants the businesses to stay in St. Peters and has contacted CVS to buy them more time to find new locations. Many of the businesses blame Providence Bank for not giving them more time. And some business owners want Providence to pay their relocation costs. This article really captures how Main Street businesses continue to be affected by the recession -- even when the business is doing fine. 2. New York replacing Silicon Valley as the "in" place for tech startups?Business Insider has a list of at least 150 companies popping up in New York City. Apparently New York's Flat Iron District and Union Square areas are hubs for budding entrepreneurs. Check out the map.3. Tackling the soft drink industry. PepsiCo(PEP) and Coca-Cola(K) watch out! A start-up called uFlavor is launching a Web site that will let users mix and deliver their own soda flavors. (The company acknowledges the risk of users creating disastrous combinations but is optimistic.) uFlavor, which is launching next week, plans to encourage users by offering them a percentage of proceeds from the created flavors. If the company sees early success, users could be mixing their own soda flavors from a vending machine. To follow Laurie Kulikowski on Twitter, go to: http://twitter.com/#!/LKulikowskiTo submit a news tip, send an email to: tips@thestreet.com.Follow TheStreet on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.>To order reprints of this a! rticle, click here: Reprints
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