How One Small Retail Business Boosted eCommerce and Cybersecurity

By Anne Shaw
The Hartford Small Biz Ahead | Originally published: August 2, 2021, Updated: September 12, 2023

Most people don’t launch their careers by starting a new business in a small town. More often, new college grads look forward to landing their first job in a big city. But Abby Griffin wasn’t like most college kids.

While attending school for fashion design in Atlanta, she took a job in nearby Opelika, a small town in Alabama. Abby describes it as a sustainable hub for small businesses. There she fell in love with the community and the group of small businesses that supported it.

“When I graduated in 2018, I had to either move somewhere else where I could get a job or stick it out, put down some roots and start a business,” she says. By the end of that year, she’d opened her shop. During her first year running Griff, Abby sold unique local goods and sustainably sourced men’s clothing from global brands. Her shop also served as a local art gallery and hosted workshops on embroidery and quilting.

“My business was built around the community. We hosted in-person events and invited local student artists to share their work during night markets. Nearly all our sales happened in-store, so, in 2020, everything collapsed,” she says.

Griff’s First COVID-19 Pivot

By late 2019, Abby’s 80-hour weeks had paid off. She was finally able to hire some help as her business grew. But with the arrival of the coronavirus, her retail shop closed for two long months.

“Starting my second year in business during a pandemic was daunting,” she remembers. How could her small shop that thrived on face-to-face interactions survive in a world where people stayed home and only shopped behind a lit screen?

“We dove into manufacturing,” she explains of her business pivot. Griff’s studio space used to be filled with people’s voices during workshops. Now it transformed into a production room filled with the sounds of sewing machines and a cutting table where they began to make masks. By launching a “Buy One, Give One” campaign, Griff sold 500 masks in the first two weeks. They also donated 500 masks to frontline workers. In the end, Griff supplied six local restaurants with masks for their staff, making and selling thousands of masks overall.

“Finding new ways to generate revenue and connect with our community pushed me as a business owner,” she says. “I wouldn’t be in business if I hadn’t started making face masks. That saved us during the pandemic.” She notes that Griff’s new manufacturing capabilities not only helped fill the need for masks, but also offered a new way to connect with local artists who wanted to branch out with other products…[MORE]

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To read the entire article by Anne Shaw at The Hartford Small Biz Ahead website, visit: How One Small Retail Business Boosted eCommerce and Cybersecurity