Macomb County Commissioner Mai Xiong received three separate CARES Act business grants, then shuttered her Mai & Co. retail clothing store in Warren a year later.
According to documents from Macomb County and the City of Warren obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, Xiong received a $10,000 microenterprise grant in June 2021; a $5,000 sustainability grant in October of 2020; and a $2,174 workplace safety grant also in October of 2020.
Information from Xiong’s application for the sustainability grant states that she intended to use the funds from that particular grant to pay off debt incurred during the COVID shutdown and pay “several months rent” for the Mai & Co. brick and mortar store on 12 Mile Road east of Van Dyke Avenue.
Receipts received via FOIA show that workplace safety grant funds were spent on a Dell laptop computer ($1,483); two printers ($460); a wireless mouse ($91); and a wireless keyboard ($137).
Xiong said she also applied for a Paycheck Protection Program loan from the Small Business Administration but was deemed ineligible.
In March of 2022, a year after receiving the $10,000 microenterprise grant, Mai & Co. closed. The most recent post on the company’s Facebook page is from March 2022 and the homepage of the business website indicates that the business is not in operation. The message states that Mai & Co. is “taking a much needed break” and will be “back with an improved shopping experience.”
An attempt to put items into the shopping cart on the Mai & Co. website and checkout brought up an error message saying the company was not taking any orders at this time.
“Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, our business was unable to fully recover its pre-pandemic sales,” said Xiong. “Faced with the challenging circumstances, I made the heartbreaking decision not to renew our lease.”
According to records from Michigan’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Mai & Co., LLC is a foreign limited liability company organized under the laws of the state of Nevada in 2019.
“I started my own apparel company in the humble confines of my own garage in Warren,” said Xiong in a statement July 15. “My business quickly outgrew our home and I asked my husband to help me with the business.
“We decided to relocate our inventory to a more suitable location on East Twelve Mile Road, just a few blocks away from our home and across from the Tech Center, in September 2019.”
Xiong said the COVID pandemic affected her business and forced her to close for several weeks in 2020. When Mai & Co. reopened in 2021, Xiong said foot traffic did not return to pre-pandemic levels
“Customers understandably remained cautious about visiting physical stores and displaying our apparel in public,” said Xiong. “Consequently, my husband and I found ourselves struggling to manage the business expenses, pay our staff, and meet our family’s own basic needs.”
Xiong is currently running for clerk in Warren. A piece of campaign literature that hit Warren mailboxes July 15 features one of her opponents, Vince Berdy calling for Xiong to pay back the funds she received from the three CARES grants.
The political hit piece was paid for by Macomb Alliance for Progress. LARA lists the MAP address as 30300 Northwestern Highway, Suite 324 in Farmington Hills; Jim Kelly Law shares the same address and Kelly is listed as the resident agent for the organization. In 2019 Kelly represented Connor Berdy, Vince Berdy’s son, in a case against Warren City Clerk Sonja Buffa.
Guidelines for the microenterprise grant, which was distributed through the Housing and Urban Development Community Block Grant Development program, did not dictate that a business receiving a grant had to stay open for a certain amount of time or risk having to return the funds.
Xiong called the campaign literature “malicious” and “distressing” and said she has received several phone calls accusing her of being a criminal.
“The emotional toll this has taken on me and my family is immeasurable,” Xiong said.
As a Macomb County Commissioner, Xiong has been very vocal with regard to her support of local businesses receiving CARES Act grants.
The Macomb County Board of Commissioners has voted on matters related to the distribution of CARES Act dollars. Xiong said she recused herself from voting on distribution of the sustainability grants and stated during the meetings where such votes were taken that she intended to apply for a CARES Act business grant.
