The city of Geneva is offering a helping hand to its small businesses struggling because of the pandemic.

Yvette Ortiz has owned Earthly Possessions Boutique in downtown Geneva for 23 years, but 2020 proved to be a really challenging year for her business.

"The day we were told to shutdown was really hard because it was right before a busy season in the spring. There was a lot of things going on that I knew I was going to lose a lot of revenue," said Ortiz.

Wesley Greco, who co-owns Lake City Hobbies with his father, says the pandemic put a similar strain on them.

"We really had some great years, between the 2008 recession and by 2017, business improved significantly. Last year, just looking at the numbers, the first quarter was down about 35 percent," said Ortiz.

The good news is that they are 2 of 35 businesses that were able to receive a small business grant from the city of Geneva.

City manager Sage Gerling explains these businesses received anywhere from $2,000 to $8,000.

"Small businesses are the backbone and the fabric of what makes us successful as a community in terms of offering services to our residents and to our visitors, livening the streets and livening downtown,” Gerling said. “So it was really important for us to be able to give back to them because they are silent operating partners in the city."

The grant allowed Lake City Hobbies to not only take care of their bills, but also gave them more flexibility to purchase specific merchandise they wouldn't normally.

Greco believes this let them better serve their customers during the pandemic.

For Ortiz, it gave her the opportunity to continue providing her customers what she calls retail therapy.

"I have people coming in when they are having a bad day. They tell me that it’s so nice to come in here and read a positive quote and leave feeling a little bit happier. Basically, I'm just here for my customers," said Ortiz.