Robert’s Story

Robert Goodman, Robert Goodman Jewelers
Zionsville, IN

With income and investment losses due to the pandemic, its government grants that would save small businesses like mine. We own Robert Goodman Jewelers, a mom-and-pop jewelry store in Zionsville, IN. We don’t have employees, but we do have relationships with repairers, custom jewelers and small and medium size designers.   Even though we don’t directly employ the people we work with, we have a network that binds us all together. If one suffers then the entire network is affected.

Not given to panic, we plan to stay open until we are told to shut down. However, we’re down significantly for March so far. We’ve lost that income. Since we don’t sell online the pandemic will continue to significantly affect our income. We’re already talking to suppliers and designers about delaying or extending payment for products, and putting orders on hold. If they go out of business, then the investments we’ve made--in building those relationships and in helping to develop their brand identity--will be lost as well.

From our point of view, it's a massive grant program, like the billions in grants to the farmers hurt by tariffs, that would help us small business owners now. Payroll tax holiday is not enough, delaying income tax for 30-60 days is not enough, and $350 billion to SBA as a loan is outrageous. Grants, unemployment relief, no cost testing, sick leave and PFML are what my business and all small businesses and my professional network needs to stay healthy during this crisis.