Cincinnati area businesses have taken a beating since the beginning of March, according to a new report.
The Greater Cincinnati metro area endured 752 total business closures — 341 marked as permanently closed — between March 1 and July 10, according to Yelp’s Economic Average Q2 2020 report.
On the national level, temporary business closures decreased, while permanent closures continue increasing, now accounting for 55% of all closed businesses since March 1. Additionally, the total number of business closures dropped to just more than 132,500, since March 1.
“As U.S. cities struggle to balance reopening their local economies and avoid becoming the next COVID-19 hotspot, we’ve seen U.S. business closure data reflect an unstable economy. Yelp data found a decrease in total business closures, but the rate of permanent closures has actually risen 14% between June 15 and July 10,” said Justin Norman, Yelp’s vice president of data science, in a release. “Cities such as San Francisco and Honolulu, which have had some of the nation’s strictest stay-at-home orders, are now seeing the highest numbers of closures relative to the number of businesses in their respective cities."
As of July 10, 26,160 restaurants have closed nationwide — 60% permanently — according to the report, up 23% since June 15. And 5,454 bars and nightlife destinations have closed, 44% permanently in that same period of time.
However, people’s interest in supporting the Black community by spending at Black-owned businesses does continue to remain high, according to the report. From May 25-July 10, there have been more than 2,500,000 searches for Black-owned businesses — including specifically restaurants, boutiques, doctors and book stores — on Yelp, compared to approximately 35,000 over the same time period last year, more than a 7,000% increase.
The report also found that states that saw an increased level in consumer interest in May then saw an increase in COVID-19 cases.
"(Yelp's Economic Average) found a statistically significant correlation between an increase of consumer interest in restaurants, bars and nightlife, and gyms in May and a rise in COVID-19 cases in June," says businesswire.com.
According to Yelp Senior Communications Manager Brenae Leary, the 10 states with the largest increase in COVID-19 cases in June, which also had a significant increase in consumer interest in restaurants, bars and nightlife and gyms were Florida, Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Kansas, Alabama.
And the 10 states with the largest decrease in COVID-19 cases in June and relatively flat consumer interest in restaurants, bars and nightlife, and gyms were Massachusetts, Michigan, Washington D.C., New York, Connecticut, Maryland, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Virginia, Illinois.
