Small businesses are making vast changes in order to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak.
California ordered its residents to “shelter-in-place” due to the coronavirus on March 20. This means that people must stay at home, aside from any essential activities such as buying food or medicine. As a result, many local businesses have suffered from being forced to close or because of a lack of business from customers who are now sheltering in place.
In San Francisco, Mayor London Breed announced that a million dollars worth of grants was allocated to help sustain small businesses. Additionally, the Give2SF’s COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund received over a million dollars from businesses like Salesforce and Wells Fargo to aid residents and small businesses that have been impacted by coronavirus.
In the $2 trillion stimulus bill passed by the Congress on March 26, over $350 billion has been designated for helping small businesses across the United States.
However, the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) website to apply for loans was overwhelmed by the vast number of small businesses who need aid. Thousands of businesses have applied for loans, but none of them has yet received any aid. Now, some non-essential businesses that have been forced to close have no income, and the prolonged amount of time that it takes for them to receive loans could result in them having to close their business permanently.
According to the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, there are over 85,000 small businesses located in San Francisco, and in wake of the coronavirus pandemic, these businesses have had to quickly make changes in order to keep employees and customers safe.
Joy Ravelli is a yoga instructor and the founder of Purusha Studio and School and the Purusha Seva Project (which helps underserved and at-risk groups of people). Since yoga is not considered an essential business, she was forced to close her studio in response to the shelter-in- place policy.
“We’ve shifted our business to online, which is pretty much like opening another studio in a week,” Ravelli said. “We’ve had to teach teachers how to create videos for online classes and we’ve had to teach our students how to operate and navigate online learning software.”
The majority of students have kept their membership to help support Ravelli and her business, but without access to the yoga studio, some students have begun cancelling their memberships. With this loss of income, Ravelli is only able to pay one of her employees, but she is helping train other teachers so that they can accept donations from students. Her own online yoga classes are currently free, in the spirit of helping the community during this time.
Minsik Pak is a dentist at SF Smile but has closed his regular practice due to California Dental Association’s suggestions to suspend any nonessential appointments. As a result, he and his employees are unable to be paid and he is worried about finances.
“It’s very strange, not going to work, and I feel helpless that I can’t do anything,” Pak said. “It would be really helpful to have some financial support, because there is no income coming in.”
Pak is only open for dental emergencies, but so far has not seen any patients.
Food services, however, are considered essential businesses and are able to remain open during the shelter-in place.
The Wooly Pig Cafe, located by Mission Bay, was open for business and only allowed take-out and delivery orders. They encouraged ordering by phone and increased their disinfecting of the cafe. However, with a plummet in business and a growing concern for the safety of the community, the cafe decided to close.
“I miss the sense of normalcy,” Lieng Souryavong, the owner of the Wooly Pig, said. “I’m used to seeing customers every day. I’m going to miss my customers, and my employees, too.”
Although he had to let all of his employees go, he has hope of seeing them soon. Souryavong is planning on seeking help for his business from the government but is currently grateful for the increase of support from customers who are buying gift cards for the cafe.
Lam Hoa Thuan, a Chinese- Vietnamese restaurant located in the Sunset, is now open for take-out only. Even though the restaurant is open for business, they haven’t made any profit because of the decrease in customers and the cost of rent and paying employees.
“The most difficult part was cutting the final check for ten employees on March 16th and telling them that today is their last day,” Vicky Lai, whose family owns the restaurant, said. “Some of them have been with us since day one when the restaurant opened in 1991.”
Though all of these businesses have mentioned a lack of income and appreciate support from the community, they are primarily concerned about the safety and health of their customers and employees.
“It’s important to support small businesses during this time, but please practice healthy etiquettes, like social distancing and staying at home, if possible,” Lai said.
