The fire destroyed the premises of all 12 businesses located at the 206 Russell St. strip mall.
HADLEY - The director of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency is appealing to the U.S. Small Business Administration to make government subsidized loans available to businesses at a Hadley strip mall that were destroyed in an Oct. 27 fire.
In a letter dated Nov. 20, Ken Schwartz, the director of MEMA, told Frank Skaggs, the director of the U.S. Small Business Administration in Georgia, that a survey of the businesses formerly located at the mall showed that a majority will suffer serious financial injury because of lost revenue. The fire destroyed the premises of all 12 businesses located at the 206 Russell St. mall.
“That would be great news,” said Hi Cheng, the owner of International Food Market, one of the businesses at the mall.
In the survey, Cheng said he expects revenues to drop from the $252,000 his store earned from October 2012 to March 2013 to $42,000 from October 2013 to March 2014. Cheng said a low interest loan would significant aid his efforts to reopen. He said he is currently looking at several locations in Hadley.
“I hope something comes up very shortly,” he said.
Officials from MEMA and the U.S. Small Business Association could not be reached Friday.