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  • May 07 2025

Small Business Gets the Boost of a Lifetime

If it weren’t for a Small Business Boost (SBB) loan from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas), Emily Burns doesn’t believe she’d have become the owner, at age 29, of The Antique Rose, a gift boutique in Forrest City, Arkansas.

The store has been in business for more than 30 years and is a mainstay in this rural town.

Ms. Burns, now 30, had been running a smaller gift shop in Wynne, Arkansas, when the mother-daughter duo at The Antique Rose approached her about buying their shop. 

The deal came together the following spring with an SBB loan playing a star role.

The SBB is a secondary, unsecured loan from FHLB Dallas provided through an FHLB Dallas member — in this case First National Bank of Eastern Arkansas — that fills the gap between what a FHLB Dallas member can finance and the loan requested by the small business. Members use it to provide financing beyond their loan when there’s a lack of equity, a collateral shortfall or initial debt service challenges. FHLB Dallas made $4.3 million available to the program last year. 

“The gift shop was a mainstay, and Ms. Burns was interested in buying it, but she didn’t have the customary down payment available for us to approve a loan,” said Nick Sutton, president of First National Bank of Eastern Arkansas. “We believed this was a creditworthy borrower and a strong business proposition, and we realized this was a perfect opportunity to combine our loan with an SBB loan,” Mr. Sutton said.

Ms. Burns received a $107,000 Small Business Boost loan that she used as the down payment. It was combined with a traditional term loan from First National Bank of Eastern Arkansas to complete the deal. 

Ms. Burns now has ownership in a larger, well-known store.

 “I couldn’t have bought the store without the help of the Small Business Boost.”
 

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