Mainebiz

V I E W P O I N T S W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 3 J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 7 For a daily digest of Maine's top business news, sign up for the Mainebiz Daily Report at mainebiz.biz/enews Get Maine's business news daily at mainebiz.biz and on Twitter (@Mainebiz). Below is some of the best from our online-only offerings: Featured @ Mainebiz.biz MMC seeks to assume ownership of Saint Joseph's rehab The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland has signed a memorandum of understanding to trans- fer ownership of Saint Joseph's Rehabilitation and Residence, a 121-bed facility in Portland, to Maine Medical Center. The facility offers multidisciplinary rehabilitation and short-stay care, long-term care and memory care, and services for those transi- tioning out of the hospital. Find out more at mainebiz.biz/saintjoseph Lewiston brewery expands to Bridgton Bear Bones Beer, a Lewiston brewery that opened 18 months ago, is preparing to open its sec- ond location, in Bridgton, where its owners said it can take advantage of the boom in seasonal popu- lation and more than double its revenue. Find out more at mainebiz.biz/bearbones Grow-Tech sold to Dutch firm Anania & Associates Investment Co. has sold Grow-Tech LLC, one of its portfolio companies, to the Netherlands-based floricultur- al company Dümmen Orange for an undisclosed price. Grow-Tech CEO Edwin Dijkshoorn said the acquisition will enhance Grow- Tech's position in the plug market because it's joining an industry leader that operates on a glob- al scale. Find out more at mainebiz.biz/growtech From the Editor Y ou might feel like an outlier if you work in Maine and yet have miraculously avoided working at a small business. By the definition of the Small Business Administration, a small business is one with 500 or fewer employees. By our definition at Mainebiz, it's a company with 49 or fewer. But the reality is there are many small businesses in Maine that are one or two people strong. When the owner retires, the business is often retired as well. So it's refreshing to have this issue's focus on small businesses. We have examples of independent retailers working alongside national retailers (see our cover story, "Small is big," which starts on P. 18), the rebuilding of the Brooklin General Store (on P. 26) and an enterprising couple that hired new Mainers to sew made-in-America products. ere's also a story about five Maine small businesses that have earned B Corp certification — and what they get from the distinction. Heard on Main Street Mainebiz writes all the time about the difficulty companies have finding qualified workers. I heard the contrarian view from Isaac Stroe, an enter- prising young entrepreneur in Portland. "I think some companies bring that on themselves," he said. "A lot of times when you look at job postings they're only part-time and aren't offering benefits." Point taken: Low pay is one thing, but benefits, particularly health insurance, are an even bigger factor than ever. Peter Van Allen pvanallen@mainebiz.biz I am writing with a call for Mainebiz and our business community to really start thinking about retail. Everything from Wal-Mart to Main Street mom-and-pop is under the gun like never before. Macy's and K-Mart, Sears, etc. are just the beginning of this massive shift away from bricks-and-mortar stores and it is affecting every retail store in Maine right now. Some people think, "Well, the big guys like Wal-Mart are finally getting their due." ere is some ironic truth in this statement except it is akin to cheering while a forest fire burns down your hated next-door neighbor. You are next. e cool little boutique, the hip bookstore that survived everything, all of our wonderful born-again downtowns are nearly as vulnerable as the largest big boxes. e growth of online retail is shaking every store in Maine. Business leaders and owners need to get to work NOW to avoid the wholesale failure of stores from one end of Maine to the other. I urge Mainebiz, business organizations, economic development professionals and retailers to squarely face this growing problem. Over the years we've made great strides in Maine with bringing back our downtowns. I fear we could be seeing the beginning of a wave such as the one that consumed downtowns as malls came into their own in the 1970s and 1980s. We can try and get ahead of the wave before it crashes on us. Michael D. Hurley Coastal Distributors Inc., Belfast To the Editor Small businesses light the way in Maine bernsteinshur.com Be smart. BE SHUR. When you need a lawyer who thinks like an executive and speaks like a human.

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