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Pattie Durham, Gaettane A. Paul
Susan Burgess, Rachel Cuccurullo,
Pattie Durham, Kerry Firth,
Ellen Gillette, Mary Ann Koenig,
Rob Downey, Rusty Durham,
Ellen Gillette, Anthony Inswasty
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Port St. Lucie
M A G A Z I N E
Port St. Lucie Magazine and
St. Lucie Magazine, published
each January, March, June and
September, are publications of
Indian River Magazine Inc., a
locally owned company based at
308 Ave. A, Fort Pierce, FL 34950.
All material contained herein
is copyrighted by Indian River
Magazine Inc. Member of the
St. Lucie County Chamber
4
Alliance to help small
businesses in a big way
Anyone familiar with Port St. Lucie commerce knows that the small business
community is its heart and soul.
Now the seventh largest city in the state, Port St. Lucie boasts a population of
201,846, according to 2019 census estimates. The city has nearly 16,000 business firms, according
to 2012 figures, the latest available. While that number has undoubtedly increased
and many of these businesses are home-based, it nonetheless reveals a business to population
ratio of about 1 to 13. Figures for 2016-17 showed that Port St. Lucie had more new
businesses formed than anywhere else in the United States.
Small businesses in Port St. Lucie have been hard hit during the coronavirus pandemic,
with many temporarily closing or closing altogether. And for the ones that survive, a
Census Small Business Pulse Survey recently revealed it will take more than six months for
them to return to normalcy.
As Anthony Westbury reports for us in “Unique partnership helps Port St. Lucie businesses
cope” Page 26 the city council and the Florida Small Business Development Center
at Indian River State College have teamed up to stanch the flow of small business failures
in the city.
“Simply stated, we want to help our citizens bring their dreams of starting their own
businesses to life, and we want to help their businesses grow to their full potential in our
safe, beautiful and prosperous city for all people,” Mayor Gregory Oravec said.
Under the partnership, Michael Bernard will act as a full-time consultant to city businesses.
Previously, he had just been a part-time consultant.
Besides providing assistance to small businesses, the new partnership plans to develop
a detailed plan concentrating on retail and hospitality, manufacturing, biotech and homebased
businesses.
With all the awards the city wins for being a great place to live, it’s comforting to know
that the city cares about small businesses and wants to see them thrive.
Reach Publisher Gregory Enns at
772.940.9005 or enns@portstluciemagazine.com
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
Publisher & Editor
Gregory Enns
772.940.9005
Associate Publisher
Allen Osteen
772.466.3346
Associate Editor
Judith Collins
Copy Editors
Writers
Anthony Westbury
Photographers
Design Editor
Michelle Burney
Cover Photo
Helene Haessler
To Advertise
772.940.9005
Sunny Gates
772.204.5043
Marsha Lange
772.237.1717
Lauren Shott
772.672.9859
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On the Web
of Commerce.
4 PortStLucieMagazine
ROB DOWNEY
Kathy and David Dow of Dow Decorating have found the Business Accelerator Program classes, part of the
partnership between Port St. Lucie and the Florida Small Business Development Center at Indian River State
College, very useful as they promote their business during the pandemic.
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