From “asymptomatic” and “asynchronous learning,” to “quarantine,” “pivot,” and “Zoom,” coronavirus-related words have wormed their way into our lexicon this year.

Though we’ve become fluent in talking about Covid-19, it’s been difficult to navigate our new world with evolving health advice, changing government mandates and so many new rules to follow.

Is it safe to shop or eat indoors?

Are we doing enough to protect our employees and customers?

Should we open our businesses and defy state orders to survive?

These aren’t easy questions with obvious answers.

Our community didn’t agree on many fronts this year – presidential candidates, mask-wearing, nonessential versus essential business definitions – but one place we always seem to come together is working to support one another.

Local businesses rose to the challenge in so many ways, and we wrote about many of them in the past nine months.

Business owners spent a lot of money on PPE to protect their employees and customers:  sanitizing stations, masks, plexiglass barriers, signs to promote social distancing. They also changed their operations when they could to offer online or curbside services or pivoted to provide new services and products.

Some applied for grants and took out loans to endure, while others closed their doors.

Many have stepped forward to help where they can.

1. Bookwalter, a Richland-based winery, is matching donations for the Tri-Cities Food Bank from winery visitors as well as patrons to Fiction, the winery’s on-site restaurant, through the end of the year. Visitors can make direct, tax-free donations or donate by rounding up their bills to the nearest dollar.

On the heels of the governor’s announcement of a second shutdown in mid-November, Ann-Erica Whitemarsh, founder of the nonprofit Rascal Rodeo, launched a Facebook group called Shop the Tri to encourage community support of locally-owned small businesses after Marilyn Lott of Farmhouse Bake Shop dreamed up the idea.

“I threw the group together and it exploded,” Whitemarsh told the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business.

Lott and Whitemarsh estimate 200 businesses have joined and/or posted in what they call a “one-stop shop for local small businesses” since launching it Nov. 15. Sellers must have a business license to post in the group.

Shop the Tri sorts companies into several categories: retail shops (online and brick-and-mortar), places offering treats and food, hair salons/barbershops/beauty/relaxation, services (ranging from personal shoppers to cleaners), businesses focused on kids and pets, photography, Christmas, floral, and health and wellness.

Cruising through the 7,000+ member strong group’s posts shows just how enthusiastic the community has been about connecting businesses with customers.

“Nearly everything we could ever wish to buy can be found and made by smart, creative entrepreneurs right here in the Tri,” Lott said.

Whitemarsh said she’s learned about so many businesses she had never heard of and was reminded of “the joys of going to an actual store outside of a grocery store and purchasing items.”

“The face-to-face interactions with folks was big for me since we have been staying home so much. I appreciated the human interaction,” she said.

Whitemarsh said she’s had people from as far away as Colorado contact her asking for help in getting a similar group started in their hometowns. She’s heard from business owners that Shop the Tri has “quite honestly saved their business” and they’re seeing “new customers coming in spending hundreds of dollars at a time.”

As we close out this unprecedented year, we asked several community organization leaders to weigh in on the year’s highlights – and lowlights. You can read what they had to say here: https://www.tricitiesbusinessnews.com/year-in-review-2020/.

Though the challenges have been staggering, so too are the countless ways the business community continue to face adversity. These are always stories worth sharing. We hope you’ll agree.

Like any tight-knit family, Tri-Citians will always be prone to disagree, but we also tend to unite in a crisis. Let’s continue to do what we can to help our business community survive (and thrive.) And let’s bring this pandemic to an end.