BUSinesses in trouble?
BUSinesses in trouble?
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How COVID-19 has impacted local businesses
This year, COVID-19 has devastated local businesses. About 3,000 businesses have closed due to COVID in Florida. With the many closures that happened earlier this year, most businesses have reopened only 3 months ago, after months of revenue loss. Many business owners are ready to reopen, but with CDC guidelines in place, there has been some trouble.
On April 3rd, Governor Ron DeSantis put into effect a federal mandate that made all non-essential businesses shut down to slow the spread of COVID-19. After this mandate, 41.3% of businesses reported that they were temporarily closed because of COVID-19, 1.8% reported that they were permanently closed, and 55.5% reported that they were still open.
At Homewood Suites in Cape Canaveral, Danielle Stephens, who has worked at the hotel for 4 years, didn't at first believe the effects COVID-19 was having on local businesses.
“At first I was very surprised to hear that places were started to shut down, and a little worried that the hotel would close,” said Stephens.
Homewood Suites ultimately never closed its doors during the lockdown, but the staff had to change how the hotel worked. The CDC recommends layouts that ensure that all customers are 6 feet apart, including limited seating capacity to allow for social distancing, the avoidance of buffets, salad bars, and drink stations.
“We had to close down the pool, gym, and buffet,” said Stephens. “We had to put more hand sanitizer around, and everybody has to wear masks.”
The hotel had to even start up new measures to reassure guests that they wouldn’t be at a higher risk.
“We had to install safety seals onto doors to show that nobody has been in that room since it was cleaned,” said Stephens.
Cobb Theaters in the Merritt square mall, though, had a different outcome than other businesses. Cobb Theaters has been closed since April 3rd due to the federal mandate. While other businesses are back and open, Cobb had to permanently close its doors.
Marty Murphy, who worked at Cobb Theaters for 2 years, was laid off back in April. And unlike other businesses, Cobb didn’t open back up.
“At first we did what other businesses did, we washed our hands, cleaned more regularly, but as it got worse me and some of my friends started to think that [closing] might be a possibility,” said Murphy.
A movie theater is certainly in a tough position in today’s conditions. Theaters and other non-essential businesses are left behind in the midst of a pandemic. According to Murphy, however, the theater's troubles predated the pandemic.
“I don’t really think the theater will open back up,” said Murphy. “When big movies came out we got lots of people, but any other time it was slow. Some days we barely got 500 people.”
In the first years of the movie theater's establishment, tourism and the mall worked well together, with Cobb theaters being a trademark of the Merritt Square mall. However, in the years since, both the theater and the mall have been in a decline, facing fewer shoppers and theater-goers. The COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the theater to close and face months of no revenue, was more than the theater could survive.
“I feel like the theater wasn’t dying but in the starting stages of dying, like the pandemic was the final nail in the coffin,” said Murphy.
This is Spartacus’ first year on The Edge staff. He spends most of his time playing baseball in Palm Bay and listening to music. This year in journalism, he hopes to have fun while writing stories in class.
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