One of my favorite rom-coms is “You’ve Got Mail.”  Written by Nora Ephron, featuring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, it recounts the unlikely pairing of the proprietor of a charming indie children’s bookstore, The Shop Around the Corner, and a major stakeholder in a family discount books empire who is on a mission to put her, and similar stores, out of business.

It is easy to root for the movie’s Shop Around the Corner. Their salespeople are knowledgeable and take a personal interest in knowing their customers. Like a member of the family, they participated in children’s birthdays for decades, providing them with cherished gifts along with an irrepressible love for reading.

I’ve thought about this movie a lot lately and its message about the wonderful feeling we get from doing business with someone who cares about the value their customers receive.

Card and novelty shops, hobby stores, family-run diners — there are so many types of small businesses that have been shuttered due to COVID.

I have found myself feeling sad every time I’ve taken a walk along Lincoln Avenue and read yet another “For Lease” sign in a storefront window.

Of course, the whole neighborhood misses such places when they have to close their doors. I do appreciate evening hours and other conveniences offered by chain outlets, but doing business with someone whose dreams are invested in bringing something new to a market or helping you find the exact thing you’re looking for can be really uplifting.

Just a couple days ago, I was walking around Lincoln Square in search of a gift for a friend’s birthday.

On the northeast edge of the strip, I noticed an unfamiliar sight. It was already chilly and breezy outside, too late in the year for a sidewalk sale, yet a rack of clothes, silk-screened tees and hoodies featuring custom designs, hung on the metal structure in front of the business.

The light blue sign over the window, looking artsy and homemade, announced RAW EDGE in large letters, then, in the line below, “MODERN ARTISAN BOUTIQUE.”

I wandered in. I guessed the store opened up as a retail operation under a short-term lease for local holiday shoppers, but a lot more was going on.

I was quickly greeted by the owner, Maria Belokurova. She described the organic skin care line she carried and talked about her leather accessories, handbags and bracelets, made from “donated” leather. She explained her mission; providing a place and platform for local artisans to sell their work.

A brick and mortar Etsy.

Apparently, she immigrated from Russia in her early twenties and went to a local fashion design school. She started to work with leather and picked up business skills.

I asked her if she was just planning to keep up the store through Christmas.

“No,” she responded.  “I just signed a three-year lease.”

Besides walking out with fancy soaps attractively bagged for my birthday gift, my few minutes in the store gave me the biggest smile. In the middle of the pandemic, this woman, who didn’t even go to high school here, was opening up a business determined to supply a market AND support artists in finding customers.

Before I left, she handed me a colorful business card, showcasing her storefront address along with social media information. It proclaimed her enterprise as “Expressive,” “Vibrant,” and “Empowering.”

Although I try to keep my personal focus on what I can control and being of service, the divisiveness and fear-mongering of the current regime has upset me. I especially don’t like promoting distrust of the “other” and not welcoming immigrants. I hope this will change.

Maybe all artists, all entrepreneurs, live their lives as immigrants, providing examples of how hard work and resourcefulness can be aimed at earning acceptance, perhaps even leading  to comfort.

I’d like to think that all Americans can take inspiration from actual newcomers to this country and remember how important it is to have a dream.

Keeping open to the benefits of new people and their dreams is no small thing.