As the weeks have slowly turned into months, over half of storefront businesses have closed in San Francisco. The pandemic has left retail businesses unsure of the future and because of this, more and more businesses are having to close for the foreseeable future.
Jay Cheng, spokesman of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, told KPIX, “The survey showed only 46% of storefront businesses in San Francisco that were open at the beginning of the pandemic are still operating.”
Cheng summarized that while 1,200 stores are currently operating, about 1,300 have permanently closed due to the pandemic. He explained that,“If you’re a fitness studio, you can’t open because of the pandemic. If you’re a retail space, you could open, but you might have decided that there isn’t enough foot traffic or enough customer base to make that worthwhile to reopen.”
The job market is harder than ever, especially for recent graduates. There’s an obvious lack of retail jobs for college kids to apply for all over the Bay Area due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Now, there is also a lack of behind the scenes entry level jobs for graduates to take over. Take for instance, the gym example. There are much fewer job applications available for people interested in personal training, accounting, and social media. In the past, it was already difficult for graduates to find jobs fresh out of college. With the addition of the pandemic, people who have prepared to start their careers for the last four years are now left out to dry.
Sonoma State senior and history major, Jack Christensen, is nervous about his future and stated, “It seems like it’s hard to enter the job market considering a large percentage of businesses are permanently closed . . . many opportunities are now lost in the current job market and there is no need for more staff.” Christensen emphasized that he is concerned about the safety and health of his family and is unsure what the right thing to do is–given the situation we are in now.
Restaurants have also suffered from the constant back and forth of opening and closing. Fortunately, many have been able to remain open while only serving takeout or by providing outside dining services. Owner of Piazza Pellegrini Restaurant, Dario Hadjian, emphasized that the pandemic has remained challenging, but he is determined to keep his restaurant open in an attempt to help his employees stay afloat, according to KPIX. Hadjan said, “We are barely making ends meet. Whatever savings we have, we are trying to put it back into the business.”
Cheng mentioned that businesses are being forced to be more creative and adapt to their changing environment. He gives an example of a restaurant in Chinatown converting into a large grocery store in an attempt to garner additional revenue. It proves that while many businesses are being forced to close, there are quite a few that have shown resilience.
Cheng concluded that, “Until we get the public health crisis under control, we can’t get these folks back to work.”
