While a precarious retail market sent many across the city and region running, Amy Chase celebrated 10 years in business in September and remains a bright spot for the creative community.
The Crompton Collective, Chase’s largest store, contributes nearly 100 jobs to the Worcester economy and allows local makers to earn a living while pursuing a creative career. Some vendors who have launched at the collective have gone on to establish their own brick-and-mortar stores or sell products in other retail spaces.
Chase, a Worcester native, knows how important it is for a community to have thriving small businesses. Growing up in a walkable neighborhood instilled in Chase the desire to support the shops she could see as pillars of the community. Watching other small businesses close their doors during the coronavirus pandemic made Chase all the more committed to ensuring her operations would make it through, planning for a recovery in a changed retail environment. Keeping her 24 employees on staff and receiving paychecks, and keeping the collective and Haberdash places that make shoppers see the value of a physical store have made Chase’s businesses standouts amid the trials of the last three years.
How should professionals best use the power they wield? “We should all be adding value to our communities. Are we creating jobs, are we donating to charities, are we volunteering, are we mentoring local youth, are we supporting our local economy? Businesses should identify the needs of their community and make sure they are helping make it better.”
A numbers game: Chase is obsessed with statistics.
