Pandemic relief grants going to small businesses in central Maine [Video]

WATERVILLE, Maine — For Waterville resident Renee Cunningham, it was always her dream to own a bookstore of her own.

“I’d always had this kind of longing to see if I could have my own business and the hope was to combine two things: my passion for books and reading and my passion to be self-employed,” Cunnigham said.

But after accomplishing that goal and opening up Oliver and Friends Bookshop in 2019, she said she struggled to maintain enough business to keep the store going through the pandemic.

“I could only [have] five people at a time in my store and we were unable to do author events which I had always hoped for and would’ve been a big part of marketing and bringing people to the store,” Cunningham said.

With the help of a grant from the Central Maine Growth Council, or CMGC, though, Cunningham said …