BUFFALO, N.Y., Aug. 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- M&T Bank (NYSE: MTB) is featuring more than 70 of its business clients throughout seven states and Washington, D.C., on an online marketplace designed to connect the businesses to new customers and communities.

The M&T Virtual Spotlight Shop allows visitors of the bank's website to easily access the online retail portals of businesses from Richmond, Va., to Upstate New York. Visitors can search the businesses by region or category, shop their merchandise online and learn more about their commitment to helping their communities thrive.

The Virtual Spotlight Shop is another way M&T, one of the nation's most active small-business lenders, is demonstrating support for its communities and their local businesses – many of which were forced to adapt to new ways of operating because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"M&T is a bank for communities – including the communities of local businesses throughout the areas we serve that have shown remarkable resilience and determination to serve their customers during the pandemic," said Eric Feldstein, M&T's head of business banking. "We want to support their recovery and growth by exposing them to the nearly 10 million visitors our website gets each month."

Businesses featured in the M&T Virtual Spotlight Shop include bakeries and breweries, restaurants and retailers, pizza parlors and hair salons, art galleries and bookstores. Many of them are the businesses that line the Main Streets of towns and neighborhoods throughout the Northeast and mid-Atlantic.

Among the businesses in the Spotlight Shop are:

• Althea's Almost Famous, a Black woman-owned catering business inspired by the flavorful cooking of the owner's Jamaican grandmother;
• Arcay Chocolates, a Washington, D.C., shop owned by an internationally acclaimed Venezuelan chocolatier;
• Funk Brewing, a craft brewery launched by a brother-in-law team that now has two taprooms in Elizabethtown and Emmaus, Pa., and distributes to seven states in the region;
• Muddy Creek Soap Company, a woman-owned handmade soap and bath products retailer in West Reading, Pa.;
• Off the Beaten Path Bookstore, a family-owned independent bookstore in Lakewood, N.Y.;
• Om Nohm Bakery & Café of Fredonia, N.Y., a gluten-free bakery founded by a mother who learned to prepare a variety of foods for her children with dietary restrictions; and,
• Sleeping Bird Coffee, a mobile coffee truck-turned-specialty coffee shop that serves espresso, pastries, sandwiches and more from its Wilmington, Del., location.

This is the third consecutive year M&T has featured some of its business clients in a Spotlight Shop – but the first it's been open to businesses throughout M&T's footprint. The bank tested the concept in Baltimore the previous two years.

In 2019, M&T launched its Spotlight Shop in a modular pop-up shop located in downtown Baltimore that featured 12 local retailers rotating through the space every two weeks for six months. Last year, M&T moved the Spotlight Shop online – a pandemic-inspired adaptation of the original concept – and again featured more than a dozen of its Baltimore-area business customers, including Boordy Vineyards, a 76-year-old family-owned business that returns to the Spotlight Shop for its third year.

"Boordy Vineyards has enjoyed a productive relationship with M&T Bank for three and a half decades," said Robert DeFord, president of Boordy Vineyards. "M&T has always been responsive to our needs, providing timely capital to allow us to take advantage of opportunities for growth. I cannot overstate how important this relationship has been for the success of our family business."

Learn more about the M&T Virtual Spotlight Shop by visiting mtb.com/spotlightshop or following @mandt_spotlight on Instagram.

About M&T Bank

M&T Bank Corporation is a financial holding company headquartered in Buffalo, New York. M&T's principal banking subsidiary, M&T Bank, operates banking offices in New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Trust-related services are provided by M&T's Wilmington Trust-affiliated companies and by M&T Bank.

Media Contacts:

New York (excluding NYC):
Julia Berchou
(716) 842-5385
jberchou@mtb.com

Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington, DC:
Scott Graham
(410) 244-4097
sgraham1@mtb.com

New Jersey, Connecticut and New York City:
David Samberg
(201) 368-4515
dsamberg@mtb.com

National Media and Trade Publications:
Maya Dillon
(212) 415-0557
MDILLON@WilmingtonTrust.com

© 2021 M&T Bank. Member FDIC. NMLS ID # 381076

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SOURCE M&T Bank Corporation