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Working from home was a unlikely reality for many before stay-at-home orders last spring. The trend has caught on and some small businesses are suffering as a result, CBS2’s Nick Caloway reports.
MARY CALVI: Before stay at home orders last year, working from home seemed unlikely for many. Now the trend has caught on, but some small businesses are still suffering as a result. CBS News' Nick Caloway has more.
NICK CALOWAY: One year into the pandemic, many Manhattan office buildings still are mostly empty. Fewer commuting to Wall Street is having a big impact on Main Street. Some businesses in the suburbs are getting taken to the cleaners. Mark Shnorhokian owns V & S Cleaners in Ramsey, New Jersey. He said business is down about half. Many clients are still working from home.
MARK SHNORHOKIAN: People may be going into the office more often, but they may not be meeting with clients. So I think that poses a big long-term problem for our industry.
NICK CALOWAY: It's the same story at Ray's Barber Pole in Ramsey. Since the reopening last summer, owner Remon Haddad says business has been cut nearly in half.
REMON HADDAD: Because people, they don't come to work, [INAUDIBLE] the work from home, and people don't have to leave the houses.
NICK CALOWAY: Some have gone back to work, but it's only a fraction of the pre-pandemic times. Commuter trains from the suburbs to the city sometimes run nearly empty. That means fewer people walking from the train to the office, in turn, fewer people are walking into Quality Shoe Repair in Ridgewood. The shop has been Vince Barbuto's family for more than 60 years. Now, revenue is down more than 60%.
VINCE BARBUTO: You used to see people running with a cup of coffee. Those people that were running were wearing shoes. I don't see any of that anymore.
NICK CALOWAY: The way we do business and the way we shop has been altered by the virus, but it's not all bad. Westwood Gallery in downtown Westwood had to close for a few months last spring, but since then, owner Mike Fitzsimmons says business is good.
MIKE FITZSIMMONS: If you're on Zoom all day long and you've got nothing on your wall, people have come in, they're looking for a piece of art, you know? They want to have a pretty good "set," in a way, for their Zoom meeting.
NICK CALOWAY: Small business owners I've talked to say they are hopeful the vaccine will eventually send people back to work. But for some, the work from home trend will linger for years to come, so some industries will take longer to fully recover. The owner of V & S Cleaners says he doesn't expect to be back to full steam for another two years. In Ramsey, New Jersey, Nick Caloway, CBS 2 News.
Source: https://news.yahoo.com/small-business-owners-expect-economic-172900776.html