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The Small Business Administration says new business applications over the last two years have poured in 65% faster than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Southtown Glass took the new business risk more than four decades ago.
It's a prime example of a small family business that's thrived in the metro.
You've probably seen or seen through Ronald and Winfred Rose's work.
"We've been up, way up high, putting in glass. We've put in heavy glass, we've done a lot," Winfred said.
The two brothers keep busy with custom work and replacements.
They've installed windows at KCMO City Hall, Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport, windshields for KCMO PD and the Jackson County Sheriff's Department.
The even installed a huge, two-inch thick pane on the KC Zoo's Polar Bear exhibit.
"Whatever job that comes up and I'll look at him and I'll say, 'Boy that's going to be a tough one.' Some way, somehow, he figures it out," Winfred said about his brother Ronald.
The two officially retire Wednesday. They'll be passing the keys to the next generation of glass workers who will continue growing the business.
They say in their decades of operation it's become harder and harder for small contractors like them to catch a break.
Over the decades, they've watched as other local glass companies were outbid and replaced by big corporations.
“You had a lot of different people competing for those jobs," Ronald said. “A lot of companies are going out of business and it’s not many smaller companies (left), it’s a lot of larger companies.”
Their company outlasted recessions,and even more recently faced labor shortages.
Despite those challenges, they're still here.
"Because you know they like the way we treat them," Ronald said of their customers. "And I think that was more important than you know, making money. More important how you treat people. And I think that's one way we've weathered so much going on because people come back to us."
That's their big secret to all new businesses in the metro.
The second big secret? Finding the right business partner.
"Working together as brothers, it's probably, this relationship has been the best partnership I've ever seen," Winfred said."Finding the right partner is what's important. And hey, I've had the right partner. I have no doubt about that."
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