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NILES — A popular downtown Niles business will be able to continue its expansion projects with support from the City of Niles.

The Niles City Council voted 7-1 Monday to approve Laura Hollister’s loan increase of $18,000 and refinance request for her business, Apothica Teas. The business, located at 222 E. Main St., has a current loan agreement for $20,380 from the city’s Revolving Loan Fund and the balance due is $6,504. The request is to refinance the term of this loan with an additional $18,000 to facilitate kitchen and event space expansion to meet demand. Previous loan payments have been timely.

“We’ve added so many seats upstairs, we need to add bathrooms and that’s just not a sexy application to a bank,” she said. “We deeply appreciate the confidence the city is placing in us. We’re pleased that they have noticed the impact that we’ve been striving to make in the community and that they are supporting it.”

According to the city website, Niles administers a revolving loan fund program that is available for loan and grant projects considered eligible by the state of Michigan. The RLF is an economic development tool that is based on partnerships between private businesses and the city that works by providing loans to businesses that cannot locate or expand in Niles with traditional financing sources alone.

The aim of the RLF is to generate economic activity that will lead to the creation of jobs for low-and moderate-income individuals. Loans may be used for land and building acquisition, construction, machinery and equipment acquisition, or for working capital. Businesses that benefit from the program are required to create one job for every $15,000 that is borrowed.

A majority of the jobs that are created must be provided to low- and moderate-income individuals. The loan request does not impact the City’s General Fund. The Revolving Loan Fund currently has $295,000 available for loans.

Councilmember Michael Thompson cast the lone dissenting vote.

“The problem I have with this program as a whole is that it’s not the role of the government,” he said. “It’s not defending liberty, it’s not defending freedom. Because of that, I can’t vote for this and with any luck at all, we will eventually get rid of this whole program because we’re not a bank.”

Since opening in 2019, Apothica Teas has become a destination for more than tea, with unique events and an inclusive atmosphere. The business has already expanded multiple times to meet demand, including the opening of an additional dining space to accommodate their increasing customer traffic and the opening of the The Great Hall and The Atelier upstairs event spaces. 

The tea shop’s mission, with its apothecary-style design and Victorian Steampunk decor, is to create an experience, whether customers are there for an event or simply enjoying drinks and snacks on any given day.

Hollister expressed the impact RLF programs have on small businesses in positions where they are unable to borrow funding from a typical financial institution.

“One of the council members did indicate the city shouldn’t be a bank but I think we have to remember that banks are not interested in our downtowns. They are interested in what the bottom line means for them and they’re not going to take a risk where the downtown can take an educated risk because they do know us through our business,” she said. “They know what their downtown needs. Even if you were strangers coming in with a good plan, if you can’t get the funding as a young business, it is really really hard. Even though we’ve been here since 2019, we have been operational for about three and a half years and we’ve expanded four times since then.

“It’s hard to say a year-over-year number and demonstrate the kind of growth that the bank wants to see to finance you but when you have a revolving loan like this that gives us opportunities that the banks won’t… They’re essentially just letting us re-borrow what we have paid back, so there really isn’t a significant risk anymore to the city and those are the types of things that revolving loan is for. I’m grateful for the program and for the confidence that the city council is placing in us.”