Costs of Doing Business

As the nation continues to take an economic battering, Massachusetts is doing relatively well, overall.

The state's economy grew about five times faster than the nation's in the first three months of the year, according to the University of Massachusetts. That's chiefly because of the strong technology, science and healthcare sectors.

But not everyone is sharing in that growth. It's still especially tough for people running small businesses in the retail and services sectors.

WBUR's Bob Oakes discovered that in Medford...when he toured a few small businesses on Main Street about a mile out of downtown...in a largely Italian section of Medford.

Audio for this story will be available on WBUR's web site later today.

WBUR's Sarah Bush produced this report.