Tom Balistreri and his team at Colders Furniture and Appliance in Milwaukee embraced a new maxim when the COVID crisis first hit these shores: “We need to be flexible; we need to be resilient; and we need to persevere!”

As Congress still wrangles over the next stimulus package and COVID flares up in new parts of the country, economists, executives and independent owners are expressing their concern for the well-being of small businesses.

While Congress wrangles over the next phase of pandemic relief, BrandSource reminds members that there are still plenty of federal funds out there just waiting to be dispensed.

In an open letter to retailers this month, Serta Simmons’s Chief Sales Officer Derek Miller said the company is committed to absorbing cost increases caused by the global pandemic.

The spread of COVID-19 has done more than put a crimp in vendors’ second-quarter earnings.

Despite what it describes as extreme and costly disruptions to the bedding industry’s supply chain as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, Serta Simmons said it would absorb the higher costs it has incurred rather than pass them along to retailers.

The U.S. moved closer to a national mask mandate this week as some of the country’s largest retailers including Walmart, Best Buy, Target, Kroger, Kohl’s, CVS and Walgreens joined three more states — Alabama, Colorado and Montana — in making face coverings a must indoors.

Serta Simmons Bedding has partnered with Swiss textile chemistry firm HeiQ to create a mattress that can reportedly kill the COVID-19 virus.

The following reflection is reposted with permission from BrandSource member Michael Grossman, President of Kensington Furniture.

In a rare instance of swift bipartisan cooperation, the federal government has extended the deadline to apply for loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) until Aug. 8.