Page 5 - BusinessWest January 6, 2025

Carol Campbell says the uncertainty of the election has passed, but there is now uncertainty about what comes next.
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keep the machines CIC installs from entering the country, to tariffs, which would impact the cost of those machines and the parts for them — and most other sectors as well.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty about what Trump’s really going to do, and any prognostication about the economy is contingent on what Trump does,” said Bob Nakosteen, semi-retired professor of Economics at UMass Amherst, referring to the president-elect’s return to the White House and unending speculation about what his administration will be doing regarding everything from tariffs to immigration to taxes on tips and Social Security — and what the impact will be on everything from the workforce to interest rates and inflation to the federal deficit.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty about what Trump’s really going to do, and any prognostication about the economy is contingent on what Trump does.”
Beyond the general uncertainty about the economy, inflation, and the Trump administration, there is general optimism regarding the local scene, as captured in thoughts on the coming year from more than two dozen area business leaders starting on page 7.
Rick Sullivan, president and CEO of the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council, said the state’s economic-develop- ment bond bill contains earmarks that represent large, and unprec- edented, opportunities for development of new sectors, specifically food science, cybersecurity, and quantum computing in this region.
“When you put these things together, I think it’s the single biggest investment, specifically in the Western Mass. economy, maybe ever, but certainly in the past few decades,” he said. “The governor, the lieutenant governor, and the secretary of Economic Development are committed to making potentially transformative investments in Western Mass. and our economy.”
Meanwhile, Andrew Melendez, founder and director of the Latino Economic Development Corp., said one of the better stories locally has been the continued surge in new businesses launched by women, Blacks, and Hispanics in the region’s gateway cities.
He cited the Shops at 1350 Main in Springfield — a collection of nine Hispanic-owned businesses in former office space in that tower — as an example of this growth, and also of what area communities should try to emulate.
While new businesses are opening in area communities, many entrepreneurs looking to launch or get to the next level are facing the challenge of finding a storefront, Melendez said, with too many landlords holding out for national chains or opting to keep space vacant rather than compromise on rent and give a fledgling enter- prise a place to start, at an amount that won’t handicap them.
“There’s a new dynamic with new entrepreneurs trying to come into the market, and landlords that are just getting what they believe
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