The business of staying in business: A Lincoln T-shirt shop's pandemic pivot

"Real early on, I had a little come-to-Jesus meeting with myself," the 66-year-old McCook native said. "I thought, 'This is going to get ugly.'"

Poore had 29 employees, and he didn't want to lose them.

He'd heard about the government's plan for what would become the Payroll Protection Program, and he wanted to be ready. He talked to his accountant, gathered his paperwork, filled out the required forms online as they became available and waited for the application period to begin.

"I think I pushed send at one minute after midnight that Thursday night."

A week later, he had his check. (Thanks to Union Bank and its own speedy response.)

By then, Poore had already fashioned a new revenue source, tailored to the times.

Decades of doing business and a knack for being light on his feet gave him a head start.

"My son says I was thinking outside the box; I said I was born outside the box."

Poore had a supplier in Pakistan he'd done business with for more than a decade, buying martial arts uniforms to embroider as students moved up in rank. That supplier knew a guy "who knew a guy who had a cousin in China," who had access to the personal protective equipment used by health care workers, Poore said.

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