The day he got laid off from his job in finance, Michael Hodgman created an LLC.
Hodgepodge Sneakers was conceived in 2023 as a custom shoe shop that sends customers home with a new pair of sneakers they personalized themselves in a sneaker customization workshop.
“The main aspect is that we’re happy to create memories,” Hodgman said.
Hodgepodge Sneakers is part of a wave of small businesses that have opened in Utah in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
As the “Startup State” — an effort to foster entrepreneurship by Gov. Spencer Cox — recognizes Small Business Saturday, some in the business community are celebrating the fact that small business loan applications have skyrocketed since March 2022, according to data from Zions Bank, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the U.S. Census Bureau.
“It’s great,” said Grant Dahl, small business manager for Zion Bank’s Business Resource Center. “Small businesses are the backbone of our country, right? They employ so many people.”
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Michael Hodgman assists Makai Matagi as they work on a pair of shoes at Hodgepodge Sneakers on Friday, Nov 29, 2024.
In the pandemic’s first year, 2020, the number of small businesses established in Utah grew by more than 2,000, according to SBA data. And the growth hasn’t slowed. New business applications increased by 21.5% in Utah from December 2022 to December 2023.
Nearly 42% of approved loans over the last four years were granted to brand-new businesses, Dahl said.
Zions, an SBA-preferred lender, approved more SBA loans in Utah in 2024 than any other financial lender, according to a news release from the bank. The pandemic “really changed how people view earning money,” Dahl said. “They found that there are ways that they can do it besides just the normal nine-to-five.”
New businesses run the gamut, from retail to restaurants to manufacturing facilities, Dahl said. And they support the local workforce. Zions’ loan applicants in both Utah and Idaho created 868 new jobs and retained 1,544 existing ones, according to the bank.
Keilara McCormick, Hodgman’s wife and sneaker shop co-owner, kept her full-time job. It offers some financial security during the store’s early days, Hodgman said, adding he’s “all in.” It wasn’t the path he envisioned for himself as a young professional coming up in finance.
“I expected to be a life-long, ‘keep the head down and grind’ [employee],” he said. But he’s happy, so far, that he and Kellara “made the leap.”
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Makai Matagi and Keilara McCormick customize a pair of shoes, at Hodgepodge Sneakers, on Friday, Nov 29, 2024.
The SBA loan, he said, gave them the capital they needed to rent a storefront in Sugar House, where they host workshops for individual customers, birthday parties and other special events.
Hodgman said he hopes to expand to corporate team-building events. Eventually, he’d like for Hodgepodge Sneakers to be lucrative enough to give back to the community. But the primary goal for now is just to “continue having a storefront and existing as a business.”
Getting the SBA loan was one hurdle, he said, and a relatively easy one, while running a business presents new and bigger challenges every day.
“We’ve already pivoted a couple of times, and we’re happy to do so,” he said. “There are so many elements here I’ve simply never done before.”
Correction, Nov. 30, 11:25 a.m. • This story has been updated to correct the last name of Keilara McCormick.
