INDIANAPOLIS — On a sunny Sunday evening, the line to get inside Gordon’s Milkshake Bar stretched out the door.
“All of our shakes are gourmet. We make it from scratch," owner Carl Gordon said.
Gordon opened his shop in December 2019 in the old Coca-Cola plant on Massachusetts Avenue.
"It was just an idea after being successful at an event," Gordon said, after selling shakes at the Indianapolis Irish Fest.
His idea soon faced challenges.
"Come 2020, March. COVID-19 just like — reality check. And we basically, everybody, the city, got shut down," Gordon said. "Everybody got scared and so forth, but after that, it was like, OK, what's next."
Gordon said he remained focused and got creative so his business didn't have to shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic.
This weekend, the co-owner of two longtime downtown restaurants — Black Market and Rook — announced both restaurants would close permanently on Sept. 5.
"We've done everything we can to survive this pandemic, but it's not enough. We've lost this fight," Ed Rudisell wrote on Facebook.
It's a fight so many business owners are challenged with every day.
Gordon said events that unfolded in 2020 shined a light on Black-owned businesses — and even said it’s one more thing that helped him stay afloat.
"There is this Black business site that is out there for all of, not just minority-owned, but all Black-owned businesses," Gordon said. "That kind of did its part. It played a role in what is going on today at Gordon's."
On Friday, Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett joined Gordon and others to celebrate a ribbon cutting of an outdoor seating space in the alley next to the milkshake bar.