A Dover small business landed a national Main Street grant

Businesses like boutiques have an especially difficult time staying afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Tina’s Timeless Threads, owned by Tina Hudson-Beamer and located on West Lookerman Street in Dover, is surviving, with the help of ecommerce. Now, a HartBeat of Main Street grant from Main Street America and The Hartford insurance company is helping, too.

Just 67 small brick-and-mortar businesses nationwide received a HartBeat of Main Street Grant, which range from $5,000 to $15,000, in the first round. The vintage clothing shop (and regular participant in Dover’s First Friday events) was the only one located in Delaware.

Diane Laird, executive director of the Downtown Dover Partnership, wrote a letter of recommendation to support Hudson-Beamer.

“Tina hosts musicians in her store and keeps her store open late during our First Friday events,” said Laird. “Because she sells such a unique assortment of clothing and accessories, her shop has helped attract people to downtown Dover from well beyond the area.”

Hudson-Beamer opened her shop in June 2019.

“Downtown Dover is a great place to have a small business and we’ve received tremendous support from our loyal customers since opening here,” she said.

The boutique currently does business in-store and on several third-party ecommerce sites. With the grant money, Hudson-Beamer plans to install a computerized point-of-sale inventory management system and develop its own ecommerce website.

Dover is one of four fully accredited Main Street communities in Delaware, along with Wilmington, Milford and Rehoboth Beach. The Division of Small Business’ Delaware on Main serves as the statewide coordinator in Delaware for the National Main Street organization, which aims to revitalize and preserve the nation’s historic commercial areas.

Find out about future grant opportunities through the Delaware on Main website.