Lina Embroidery: SomerCor 504 DPAP Feature

Made from Scratch: In 2002, Lina Smilgiene purchased her first embroidery machine and set up shop in her basement, blending beautiful designs with quality service. By 2008, Lina Embroidery opened for business. Nearly twenty years later, the business serves over 3,000 clients across a broad range of industries, providing top-of-the-line commercial printing and embroidery products.  

Today, Lina Embroidery employs ten people from the community, making for a close-knit work environment with an operating space to match. While this intimate atmosphere was welcomed, Smilgiene and her team were bursting at the seams in their workspace, surrounded by mountains of boxes, spools of thread, and large machines. With a growing team and thousands of customers to support, Smilgiene knew it was time for an upgrade. 

SBA 504 Building Purchase and Down Payment Assistant Grant 

Eager to get into a bigger space, Smilgiene worked with SomerCor’s Elisabeth Williams on an SBA 504 loan to purchase a building just a few feet away from her current rental unit. The move will almost double the business’ operating space to 5,000 square feet, a much-needed increase. With all the extra space, Lina Embroidery hopes to add another state-of-the-art screen-printing machine, a few more embroidery stations, an expanded storefront, and dedicated storage, office, and employee spaces. 

“I am so thankful to my family, my community, and my partners at SomerCor for helping me take this next step. The business has grown so much since I first started, and I cannot wait to see it keep growing and evolving.”  

Not only did the building purchase decrease the business’ annual occupancy costs by over 30%, Lina Embroidery is SomerCor’s second Cook County Down Payment Assistance grantee! Smilgiene received a grant of $25,000 – effectively cutting her down payment in half – allowing her to put more capital toward expanding her business. SomerCor is proud to support Cook County’s southwestern communities and encourage inclusive economic advancement.  

SomerCor Team Members: Loan Officer – Elisabeth Williams; Credit Analyst – Brenda Billington; Closing Analyst – Laura Morales 

Reap What Lina Embroidery Sews: Check out their website or call (630) 243-1170 for more information.  

Visit https://somercor.com/dpap/ to learn more about SBA 504 down payment assistance and how the program helps small businesses expand.