SAUK RAPIDS, Minn -- In the back room of Benton Trophy & Awards, a football player is laying down on the job.
Thanks to the novel coronavirus, he's been benched.
The shiny gold-colored player is immortalized in action atop a trophy laying sideways on shelves of Benton Trophy & Awards alongside papers and other completed pieces, one of the several projects waiting to be picked up.
"We'd typically be pretty busy," said Ron Edelbrock, vice president of Benton Trophy & Awards, as he named knowledge bowls, a karate tournament and work preparing for car shows, all typical for this time of year.
"... It's been a lot of not much happening," he told the St. Cloud Times on a recent Wednesday.
Diversification has continued to provide some business for both Benton Trophy & Awards in Sauk Rapids and All Star Trophies & Awards in St. Cloud. Both have some industrial business. For example, Benton Trophy & Awards makes valve tags for plumbers.
"Luckily, we've diversified where we've got a little bit from here, a little bit from here, a little bit from there, so if one thing tanks, we're still all right," Edelbrock said.
Among other things, All Star Trophies & Awards produces signage for electrical breakers.
"There is some business out there right now," All Star Trophies & Awards owner Marty Heine said. "It's just obviously not to the scale of what it would be normally at this time of year."
Edelbrock estimated his shop's work has tapered off by about 85% to 90%. Both stores have cut staffing in different ways, and Heine said he's prepared to hold off on writing his own paycheck.
Edelbrock said he looked into federal aid for small businesses, but the website was so overrun with users he didn't make significant progress.
But Heine wants to be optimistic. He has loyal customers he wants to take care of through the covid-19 pandemic. Cancellations didn't begin until March, which meant the business that supports youth sports tournaments and schools was able to get through basketball and hockey season without losing much. Wrestling and speech were not so lucky.
"If this had happened in January, it'd have been even more devastating," Heine said. "So I don't want to plead the 'Woe is me' because I want to be an optimist."
And if anything, he said, it has reminded us how much we take the enjoyment of sports, even as spectators, for granted.
While Heine will have to sit with trophy components on his shelves, they're not a loss because they can be used next year. Trophies already made for canceled events are also not a loss, as Heine said he is telling customers they can simply swap the plate on the front that says "2020" for the next year.
"It's not a lost cause," Heine said.
Still, Edelbrock is expecting this year's cancellations to affect next year's business, too. He had a customer pick up custom ribbons for a canceled event. The ribbons can be used later so that's an order the shop will lose next year.
"How many others?" he said. "I don't know. I don't think it's gonna be many."
Heine said All Star Trophies & Awards can continue to be there, too, for people facing the uncertainty of an event scheduled further out and whose cancellation is neither guaranteed nor ruled out. All Star has the vendors and equipment to do awards in large and small batches.
"We are capable of doing a lot very fast," he said.
Benton Trophy & Awards has been in business since 1973, Edelbrock said. He knows business will pick up again. The only question is when.
"We're gonna all get through this, and people need to stay with the plan: social distancing, not hoarding, eating right, taking care of themselves," Heine said.
NW News on 04/04/2020