McHenry County businesses see innovation, hardship over past year with COVID-19 pandemic

Nearly one in 10 small businesses in McHenry County closed permanently during the last year, a year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic that saw restrictions across many industries meant to limit the transmission of the highly infectious virus.

While many business owners experienced heartbreak as they were forced to close, others were able to weather the challenging times and some created new avenues to serve customers or sell their products.

The business community had a lot of fear when COVID-19 restrictions first went into place, said Jim McConoughey, president of the McHenry County Economic Development Corporation. There were so many unknowns at that point, he added.

“Now, a year later, we know a lot more about the disease,” McConoughey said. “We know a lot about how to keep our workers safe.”

About 8,600 businesses are located in McHenry County, according to McHenry County Economic Development Corporation data. Of these, about 6,500 have 50 employees or less. Of these 6,500 smaller businesses, 9% had to close permanently, McConoughey said.

Local chambers of commerce and other business organizations helped their members adapt to the change during the pandemic.

The McHenry Area Chamber of Commerce, for example, offered webinars on how to host meetings and how to boost their social media presence, chamber President Molly Ostap said.

The session emphasized how businesses can change the way they market themselves and increase their visibility online, she said. They had a good response and even saw new faces who might otherwise not have attended in person, Ostap said.

The Crystal Lake Chamber of Commerce was able to host quite a few outdoor events in McCormick Park, said Nick Kubiak, its marketing and communications manager. The chamber also revamped its “entire membership, pricing and layout” in response to COVID.

For memberships, a lot of items people used to have to pay a little extra for are now included.

The McHenry County Economic Development Corporation in March of last year pivoted toward helping businesses find the government programs available to support them financially, McConoughey said. It put simplified information about these programs on its website.

If COVID has taught Kubiak anything, he said, it’s how important adapting is. A lot of businesses started doing online sales, and some even put up their first website, he said.

One business that adapted well was Julie Ann’s Frozen Custard in Crystal Lake, McConoughey said, as it was one of the first to have on-site pickup.

“[The owner] just was very innovative on the processes necessary to make sure that people can access the store,” McConoughey said.

Linda Anderson, the owner of Julie Ann’s, said her nephew, Peter Wisniewski, a part-owner, is very tech-savvy, so when COVID-19 restrictions first began, he helped the business create an online ordering system almost overnight.

It took a lot of work and a lot of time to learn the system and improve it. Julie Ann’s hired more people to help and set up another telephone line.

“We feel very blessed because unlike a lot of businesses, we got busier and we think it’s just the ice cream business,” Anderson said. “People were looking for things to do because they weren’t taking vacations. They weren’t going [out].”

Julie Ann’s tried partnering up other businesses to try to boost them up, as well.

It was still hard, and the pandemic taught Anderson that there are no guarantees in life and to be thankful, she said.

“I relied on my staff,” Anderson said, adding that her teenage employees especially helped her a lot.

Sherree Rothstein, who owns The Clothes Gallery in downtown Crystal Lake, has been using Facebook Live to keep business flowing.

The Clothes Gallery experienced a 30% loss in business last year due to the pandemic, she said.

Live shopping events, over-the-phone orders, and curbside pickups were the only way to conduct when businesses deemed non-essential had to close for a period of time, Rothstein said.

“We have a lot of loyal customers that love to see what we were doing,” Rothstein said. “We were doing this every week because we had no in-store traffic whatsoever because we couldn’t be open for in-store traffic.”

She plans to continue the live events even when “things go back to normal.”

“Businesses need to be flexible, and they need to be able to pivot in decision making,” said Rothstein. “This gave us that shining armor.”

Black Orchid Boutique established a website and began virtual fashion shows, Ostap said.

“They probably wouldn’t have been spurred to try that before because she had steady customers that came in. Now, it has just increased who she can sell to,” Ostap said.

For the same reasons brick-and-mortar businesses struggled, online businesses thrived last year: All their work is done from home. Hannah Agboola of Lake in the Hills launched Adé Cosmetics, her own online business, on Feb. 14 of this year.

“It’s something I’ve wanted to do for about two years,” Agboola said. “Since COVID happened, I was like, ‘This is the best time.’”

Agboola sells lip products and expects to launch more makeup products soon.

“I learned every single thing from YouTube – how to find the right things to use, how to make my things, how to find vendors,” Agboola said.

Agboola has had success since launching her business last month. She said she maintains a patient mindset, reminding herself that the world is still enduring the financial effects of the pandemic.

Not a lot of people have money right now, so Agboola said she does not let herself feel defeated if she does not get orders some days.

After living in McHenry County for about 25 years, McConoughey said he was taken aback by how people cared for and helped each other’s businesses during this time.

“People were recognizing that the guy who sells wallpaper down the street is actually a neighbor,” McConoughey said. “It’s not just a business.”