Small Business Owners Left in Limbo Amid COVID-19

COVID-19's impact on the economy

COVID-19 has had a disasterous impact on the U.S. economy, and small businesses are feeling that impact more than any other sector. According to Yelp's 3rd Quarter report, 97,966 buisnesses have closed permanently, meaning that 60% of business forced to close initially will not be reopening their doors.

According to the Small Business Administration, roughly 70% of all eligible businesses have applied for relief through the CARES Act. However, it's unclear how many of those applications have been approved to qualify for the 349 billion dollar program. According to the Washington Post, approximatley 4% of those businesses who have applied recieved aid.

COVID-19's impact on the fitness industry

The fitness industry has been hit especially hard by the pandemic, as they were one of the first industries closed to stop the spread of the virus. In many states across the country, gyms are still not allowed to operate or at a very limited capacity. These closures initially came as a shock to KA athletics owner, Kristy Agan, as she was forced to close her gym in March of 2020.

"I was suprised that I was forced to shut my doors back in the spring, It's not normal for local and state governments to recommend that businesses close," says Agan. " I still have bills and business loans to pay so I really had to think creativley of ways that I could get through this because I didn't get any of the stimulus."

Agan says she's lucky that her customers stuck by her as she bypassed the state mandates by offering her classes in an outdoor setting and establishing online programs for her clients to follow. Agan was able to open her doors for smaller classes back in June and says she had to change the way she handles gym matainance to provide a safer enviornment for her and her customers.

"I had to step up the cleaning around the gym, I clean every inch of this place at the end of the day with disinfectant, I'm probably doing more than what I should do, but I think that's the best way to keep my doors open and more importantly, keep everybody that comes in here safe."

COVID-19's impact on the retail industry

Small businesses in the retail sector have also had to change the way they do business, as they have long relied on the personal touch to keep their customers returning to the business, says Melanie Morris, the co-owner of Mel & Mimi's clothing boutique in Rome, Georgia. However, the transition to online-only has been difficult for many businesses including Morris'.

"When were were forced to close we had to rely on social media a lot more than we were comfortable with. We're a little old fashinoned with our business so we had to think outside the box of how to get the word out to our customers," says Morris.

Morris and her business partner, Mimi Weed, started a campaign through Facebook and Instagram to model their inventory themselves for their customers. Despite the fact their doors remained shut, they still fulfilled customers orders by personally delivering their clothing to their customers' homes . Morris belives that this campaign and their loyal customers are the reason their business is still open today.

"People really responded to the campaign. I think since people enjoyed seeing what we were doing with our virtual fashion shows, especially since alot of them were stuck at home. I also think people just wanted to support our small business during these times," says Morris,"Mimi and I were blown away by the support we recived from people, it just really made us feel loved and special."

Small Business owners fear looming shutdown

Despite the creative thinking to stay open, many small business owners fear the possibility of another nationwide shutdown and how that might affect their business. Unless a massive stimulus is rolled out to protect them, small business owners will be put in another precarious position of having to save all the hard work they've done after the first shutdown. Agan is already planning for the shutdown that she believes is coming.

"If I have to shut down again I will just have to be more strict about how I do business," says Agan, "I will have to go back to doing classes outdoors and really manage how many people I can have in a certain training session. I'm already preparing for that scenario because I'm pretty sure the next shutdown is coming."

However, Morris is not sure that many businesses like her business can stay afloat should another shutdown occur.

" I'm not sure many businesses can sustain another shutdown. I'd be nervous to go back to an online platform only because I don't know how long we could sustain our business if we were purely online," says Morris.

With all the uncertainty surrounding a potential shutdown, small business owners are urging people to support them to keep their businesses alive. Before the pandemic, many small business were struggling to compete with online retailers like Amazon.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put them in an even tougher situation than before. If small businesses are truly the back bone of the American economy, it's now more important than ever to make sure that they are able to continue to do business.

Keep learning about COVID-19 and it's impact on small businesses here.