08/18/2026
Bonnie Herman imagined opening a uniform store of her own. In 2013, a North Central Small Business Development Center entrepreneurship course held at Jefferson Community College helped her begin turning that longtime idea into a working plan.
Through the course, Bonnie learned the essentials of business planning, financing, marketing, bookkeeping, staffing, and inventory management. At the same time, her daughter Emily was completing her business degree at SUNY Cortland.
That summer, mother and daughter worked side by side to secure funding, find retail space, purchase inventory, and prepare The Scrub Hub to open. Bonnie did not leave her career overnight. She continued working full time as an X-ray technician while they steadily built the business.
For several years, Bonnie and Emily focused on growing their retail store. The business remained stable through the pandemic before reaching a major turning point in 2023, when The Scrub Hub began bringing temporary uniform shops directly into area hospitals. The new model opened doors to additional locations, expanded the company’s reach, and helped generate the growth that eventually allowed Bonnie to focus fully on the business.
With continued guidance from North Central SBDC Business Advisor Deborah Wilson, Bonnie and Emily also secured a Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency grant for equipment to support their next stage of growth.
More than a decade after Bonnie entered that first classroom with a business idea, The Scrub Hub is preparing for its next step: a new 1,000-square-foot expansion. Reflecting on their experience, Bonnie and Emily shared with Deborah that they have valued knowing SBDC support was only a meeting, email, or phone call away as they worked to start and grow the business.
