Bridge Loan Helps Tampa-based Landscape Company
Treemart Inc. of Hillsborough County
Treemart Inc., is a retail garden center and re-wholesale landscape supplier, based on Nebraska Avenue in Tampa. While the wholesale landscape company lost only a few trees, the company did experience significant economic losses.
Looking for a way to continue paying creditors while the company recoups its lost revenues, owner Scott Bailey, sought the help of the Florida SBDC at Hillsborough County, for assistance in applying for a State of Florida Emergency Bridge Loan. When asked about his experience with the storm and the assistance received, Bailey recalled:
What type of damage occurred?
Our economic loss due to Hurricane Irma has been substantial. Our business is 90 percent re-wholesale to landscapers, which were affected before and after the hurricane. Most landscape jobs have been put on hold and landscapers are concentrating on clean up and restoration. For us, it was mostly loss of income. We really only had a few trees down but everyone was prepping before so we lost a ton of business.
How will the Bridge Loan help?
It’s just gonna make up that income that we lost so that I can keep paying the bills that keep coming in whether there’s a hurricane or not.
How was the Florida SBDC at USF helpful during this process?
You guys were very helpful getting all the paperwork together and actually Carol Minor even taught me how to do a scan a different way on my computer. You’re much better than a bank.
