Southport Magazine

Running a small business is an adventure under normal circumstances. Living in Hurricane Alley adds an extra level of challenge most years. Our local business owners accept this and have learned to deal with it. But when COVID-19 entered the picture, things got incredibly difficult, even for a group of people used to handling adversity. The Southport-Oak Island Chamber of Commerce has been standing beside our business community with support, advice, and information for decades, but this year it has truly stepped up to the plate with much needed help. 

Lucinda Arnold, owner of Coastal Painting and Improvements, stepped into the Presidency of the Chamber last summer when the biggest potential threat to our normal way of life was a hurricane. She turned the gavel over to CresCom Bank’s Kim Felts last month with the fallout from a pandemic bringing new challenges every day.

“I’m proudest of how the chamber was able to answer the phone calls of worried shop owners,” Arnold said of her term as President. “We were able to keep our members informed of changes put forth by the City of Southport and the Town of Oak Island, we had an entire website dedicated to COVID and we are still promoting the restaurants and shops by posting their hours of operation, specials that they are running, etc.”

Arnold has taken away an important lesson from her time as Chamber President. “I feel that I have learned to always be looking at the big picture and how each decision made affects what the picture will look like when finished. Will it be a masterpiece or a stick figure drawing,” she wondered. “The choice is up to us.”

Karen Sphar, Chamber executive Vice President and one of the Chamber’s full-time employees, also spoke to us about how the Chamber has been handling the pandemic. 

How does the COVID situation stack up against natural disasters of the past? 

Our business community is more resilient than most because of our experiences with natural disasters, however COVID-19 is different and has been more destructive for many reasons –

1. Most disasters, like hurricanes, have a known timeline. A business has its own history, or a new business can ask other businesses about expectations— when they can reopen, when employees will be available, when customers will return. For instance, during a hurricane, a business on Oak Island knows that if the winds on the bridges get to a certain sustained MPH, the bridges are closed, and they will remain closed until a specific criteria is met. That is known and the business community can forecast and prepare accordingly.  

2. A business can prepare and mitigate damages, preventing some expenses. For instance, if a business is in a low-lying area and floods, it can mitigate damages by elevating mechanical equipment out of harms way.   

3. Insurance – many business interruption insurance policies do not cover pandemics. Businesses regularly insure their business from fire, water, and hurricane loss.

4. Length of time closed or partially shutdown — Some businesses are still mandated to be closed without a sense of when they can reopen. A fire will shut down a business, but the business has some control over the rebuild and when they will reopen.  

5. Government involvement — Government agencies are in new territory and as such they don’t have a history to tell them what actions they are taking which can be harmful – both to the individual and a business.  In this scenario, all businesses are in the same boat.  But with COVID-19, there is no way for a business to forecast openings and closings. If you look at some of the earlier regulations, it caused unfair competition between brick and mortar businesses and online businesses. Products a local business could not sell locally were being sold and delivered daily in our communities by the online merchants.  

What programs did the Chamber have in place before the pandemic that turned out to be useful? 

1. A versatile website platform. We could easily add information specific to the pandemic like lists of restaurant openings, online shops for local retailers, list of businesses considered essential, business support information.  

2. Go Local Southport-Oak Island Facebook Page. It was a simple change to the existing It’s Worth the Drive Go Local Page to Go Local Southport-Oak Island. We use this page to promote all the above pages, share business informational posts which keep our residents and visitors informed about what the business community is doing.   

3. Emails & Blog  – We use emails to communicate with our members, but during COVID-19 we sent out as much information as we could to the members. We also made this information available to non -members – they could access the emails by visiting the COVID-19 Business Information Pages.  We also used email communications with residents that had previously signed up for Chamber news updates to keep them informed on games and activities they could do to promote our small businesses.

4. Social media – we had a strong social media presence on Instagram and Facebook but 2019/20 Chamber President Lucinda Arnold started weekly videos sharing information about happenings in the Southport-Oak Island area. This has been well received and we plan on continuing this going forward.

5. Business Connections – weekly referrals meeting with the members.  We continued them but moved them to Webex so that we could keep our connections going. We then added back in our Coffee with the Girls, Benefit YOU and Out of the Box Learning on Webex.

6. Faces of Commerce – Facebook Live on Thursdays at 10 am where we talk with a member of the business community and showcase that business. Early on it was a great way to get the message out who is still open, who had online sales.  

What has been the biggest challenge in dealing with this? What has surprised you most?

1. For the Chamber, all the activities and events that have been postponed or moved to a virtual platform. Most businesspeople are social by nature and desire to make personal connections is important. For its members, just keeping up with the changes and seeing our members, friends and colleagues suffer or struggle.

2. The amount of negativity on social media has surprised me. We knew social media could be negative, but the amount of content directed at the business community for the sole purpose of damaging a person’s livelihood has been disturbing. If you don’t like something a business is doing, talk with the owner or just don’t use that business. We promote being a positive social poster. Look for the good and you will find it. Once you find it, promote it. Doing that will make you feel better and bring you less stress.

Do you have a sense of how businesses in this area have fared compared to other tourism-heavy areas? 

Our tourism industry is thriving. We are remote in the sense that we are not in the hustle and bustle of metropolitan cities and beach towns. People are looking for destinations that are off the beaten path and we are perfectly fitted for this market. 

We know that our real estate, construction and trades industries have either recovered or never missed a beat.  

Our restaurants are holding their own but at 50% occupancy that is to be expected.  

What do you think are the strengths of our business community that have and will continue to help us weather this storm?

1. Our location – we are growing and will continue to grow.  

2. Our business community – they can pivot and make necessary changes if it is a level playing field and they are given the time necessary to make drastic changes.    

3. Drive-In market for Tourism – Driving and not flying to a destination is popular now and we are perfectly positioned for this market. That is unless you have your own plane — then we have that as well with the Cape Fear Regional Jetport.  

4. Thankfully, building and trades did not see much of a prolonged impact. They are thriving.

What programs has the chamber developed to deal with the pandemic? 

1. Gave tips on how to support our business community during a pandemic.

2. Southport-Oak Island Bingo game

3.Restaurant Opening Listings

4.Local Online Shopping Listings

5. Business Support Information Page

6. Advocacy for our Business Community with the City and Towns.

7. Webinar with US Chamber of Commerce and Congressman David Rouzer

8. The Chamber created the Southport-Oak Promise to complement the State’s efforts with Count on Me NC.  Both programs promote the three W’s — wear a face covering, wait 6 feet apart and wash your hands frequently. The importance of the the 3 W’s is stressed for the consumer, businesses and employees. A list of businesses that have taken the Promise or have completed the Count on Me NC training is posted on the Chamber’s COVID-19 section of its website.

Has there been much collaboration between Chambers of Commerce state-wide or even nationally? 

1. We have utilized many resources of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 

2. We have kept in touch with the North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce and shared resources and information.  

What do you see as the chamber’s greatest success during this pandemic?

1. Advocacy for our Business Community with the City and Towns.

2. Information Funnel.  We provided timely information to the business community about where to get help and changes.

How are you planning for the future given the unknowns and constantly changing nature of things?

We look at our plans and change them daily, realizing we are on a virus timetable and not our own.   

What lessons has this experience taught you that will be helpful going forward?

Adversity will give you the opportunity to look at what you have always done and look for new ways to do it and make it better.