Local Retail Spotlight: Fresh Market at Hershey Towne Square is expanding its small-business footprint with a new Farmers Market under the Food Hall, plus a growing, independently owned Food Hall lineup featuring cuisines from Korea, Vietnam, the Caribbean and more. Retail Advocacy: NRF named Pretty Thai an “America’s Retail Champion,” highlighting how small retailers are pushing for policy changes that affect Main Street. Small-Business Security: Hosted.com warns that outdated WordPress plugins can expose online shops to hacks, malware, spam redirects and crashes—urging regular updates and safer maintenance. Tech Reliability for SMBs: Australia’s Telstra outage shows how mobile connectivity failures can disrupt payments, transport and emergency response, with knock-on effects for local merchants. Energy Policy Impact: Arizona regulators voted to scrap energy-efficiency standards, arguing the rules don’t fit today’s data-center and factory growth—raising questions for utility costs. Disaster Loans: The SBA opened low-interest disaster loan applications for Wisconsin storm victims, including options for businesses and private nonprofits. Local Growth Funding: Georgia’s GIDA launched Elevate Glynn, a $1M initiative to fund and train entrepreneurs to start, grow and expand businesses. Community Business Support: Starling rolled out free Expense Cards and Team Access for UK SMEs to delegate spending while keeping owner controls. Consumer Spending Trend: A staycation-focused report says Americans are staying closer to home, pushing small businesses to sell experiences and local value. Digital Ownership Fight: A petition urges Sony to keep physical PlayStation game discs, warning an all-digital shift could hurt retailers and small businesses tied to physical distribution. Business Continuity Risk: A fire damaged multiple buildings at Joyce’s Craft Shop and Paddy Festy’s in Connemara, disrupting a small retail complex and road access.