HILLSBORO, Ore. — Thousands of businesses who missed out on the first round of funding through the Paycheck Protection Program hope their loans will get approved when the additional $320 billion in funding becomes available Monday morning.
One of those businesses is Gimre’s Shoes, which was founded in 1892 by Sven Gimre in Astoria, Oregon.
“He was the one who immigrated from Norway back in 1890,” explained Sven’s grandson Jon Gimre who now runs the Gimre’s Shoes locations in Hillsboro, Bridgeport Village, and Western Washington.
Jon’s grandfather kept the business going through family tragedies that took his wife and children, the 1922 fire in Astoria that burned his shop completely to the ground, and the great depression when he had to trade shoes for food for his family.
Now 128 years later, Jon and his brother Peter, who owns the location in Astoria, are fighting to keep their family business open during this pandemic.
“I think about what he went through and it gives me strength today knowing, hey, yeah, I can go through a lot worse and still survive,” Jon Gimre explained.
Jon and his brother Peter both applied for loans through the Paycheck Protection Program, but the money ran out before they could get any financial help.
“It just never got submitted to the U.S. Small Business Administration before the funds went up, which was very disappointing on our end,” Gimre said.
They had to lay off employees and now Jon is trying to figure out how to pay rent and pay vendors for merchandise he bought before COVID-19 changed everything. The stores are still open for business, but sales have slowed way down.
“April has always been a huge month for us and now all of the sudden, we're not anywhere near where we should be,” Jon Gimre said. “My guess is for April, we'll probably even be doing maybe 2% to 3% of what we normally do during April.”
Gimre is now one of many business owners hoping to get financial help when the $320 billion in additional funding for the Paycheck Protection Program becomes available Monday morning.
“They assure us now when the initial funds become available tomorrow morning that everything's all set and we will be submitted both for my application and also for my brother Peter's application,” Gimre said.
Even so, there is no guarantee they will get a loan, so all they can do now is wait and hope for the best.
“Kind of keep our fingers crossed, keep our toes crossed, and everything else and hope that it goes through and something gets awarded to us,” Gimre said.