As the coronavirus pandemic continues to cause issues for businesses and employees, people may be wondering, how are the local businesses in the area doing? Since a lot of them are either completely closed or are doing curbside orders, they might find themselves in a little bit of a struggle to stay open. 

One of the owners of Riverside Sweets on Main Street, Angela Trupiano, says “The virus has had a big impact on us. We decided to close completely on March 16 to keep us and our employees safe and healthy.” 

She also mentioned they started a website and now do free porch delivery. “We have lost a lot of money and miss our employees so much. We hope that we can open back up very soon,” Trupiano said. 

Many other businesses in the city are offering very similar services like curbside, takeout, and delivery options. 

The City of St. Charles Mayor, Dan Borgmeyer, spoke on the city’s financial situation. “Typical cities hold a 20 percent reserve of funds for crisis. St. Charles City holds in excess of 30 percent.  We are solid, but with the casino closing and the loss of revenue from so many other businesses, we will need to prepare for and plan to furlough staff if necessary.  We are avoiding that at all costs,” the mayor said. 

Small businesses can expect to receive some financial support, although the available amount of money is not high, so getting any funding is rare. 

“The city is waiving many fees and charges and renewals to help the small business owners.  The National Chamber of Commerce and federal government both put forth rescue funds, but those were depleted almost immediately. The money ran out. They have just done another $484 billion issue that is supposed to go primarily to businesses with between 2 and 20 employees. I don’t look for that to last long either.” Borgmeyer said. 

This proved true for Trupiano and Riverside Sweets. 

“We applied for the paycheck protection grant that the state was offering but, unfortunately they ran out of money before we received any.”