Saving Main Street

A veteran journalist follows an inspiring ensemble cast of small business owners fighting to keep their businesses alive through Covid-19, while exploring the sweeping trends and government policies that had brought small businesses to the breaking point long before the coronavirus hit.

There is a tendency to fetishize small business even as it shrinks before our eyes. Americans extol the virtues of small, local, often family-run shops, yet buy from big-box retailers and chains that dominate the competition. Even before the pandemic, small businesses seemed endangered. When Covid-19 hit, the resounding question was: How will they be able to survive this?

Saving Main Street is an unfiltered, up-close examination of a small group of business owners and their employees, their struggles, and their strategies to survive. It is an eye-opening tale of grit, perseverance, and entrepreneurial spirit that follows three businesses: a restaurant owner and his rambunctious staff, an immigrant running her own hair salon, and the owner of a “non-life sustaining” gift shop—alongside a larger cast of vividly drawn characters.

Gary Rivlin focuses on the first days of the Covid lockdown and the ensuing eighteen months of chaos, including the personal and financial risks, a contentious presidential election, and contradictory governmental guidelines—all which compounded the everyday challenges of running an independent business trying to attract and retain customers who expect low prices, convenience, and endless choice. Rivlin keenly observes small businesses from all angles, examining commonly held “myths”; contradictions in government policy; enormous racial and class fissures; a national self-identity intrinsically connected to the ideal of small business, and how the decline of this American way of retail impacts our notions of American exceptionalism, community, and civic duty.

As Rivlin reveals, there’s something enduring about small business in the American psyche. Life will have changed in unprecedented ways on the other side of this pandemic, yet hard times will also create opportunities, offering hope and survival.

Through intimate, on-the-ground reporting, Saving Main Street uncovers the human cost and surprising resilience behind the economic crisis:

Main Street Businesses Under Siege: Follows the unfiltered, day-to-day struggles of a restaurant owner, an immigrant hair stylist, and a gift shop proprietor as they navigate lockdowns, contradictory guidelines, and financial ruin. On-the-Ground Investigative Journalism: Goes beyond statistics to capture the grit, perseverance, and personal risks of an ensemble cast of memorable characters in northeastern Pennsylvania. The Battle for the Local Economy: Examines the sweeping trends that pushed Main Street to the brink long before 2020, from the rise of big-box retail to enormous class and racial fissures. Community Resilience in a Crisis: A powerful look at how small towns fight back, what’s lost when a local shop closes, and why the spirit of Main Street endures in the American psyche.