Margaux & Max has managed to stay afloat with Dinges’ live streams and creative marketing on Facebook, even while the retail store remains closed for personal purchases.
Photo: Je Donna Dinges
Small business owners faced a little lashing last year when Covid-19 swept the country, with restrictions that led to closings, reopenings and limited operations in markets across the country, at the discretion of state and local leaders.
New CNBC Survey data | SurveyMonkey Small Business in the first quarter of 2021 reveals that the experiences of Main Street entrepreneurs reflect this period of unpredictability.
While just over half of small business owners say they managed to stay open during the pandemic, 20% of small business owners say their business has temporarily closed as a result of the pandemic and has since reopened, but only with limited capacity. In addition, 10% of small business owners say they have closed and have not yet reopened. Another 4% say they closed, reopened and closed again.
The comings and goings weighed on the sentiment of small business owners and prompted the Main Street community to express strong support for President Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion Covid aid plan, according to the survey, which was conducted among 2,111 small business owners across the country from January 25 to January. 31 using the SurveyMonkey platform.
Je Donna Dinges relaunched her clothing and accessories boutique, Margaux & Max, in a new, larger location in early March 2020. Within a few days, Covid boxes began to grow across the country and the Ferndale, Michigan store , closed.
Je Donna Dinges opened in a new and larger location with her boutique, Margaux & Max, just when Covid started to spread across the United States. Within days, it had to close in March 2020.
Je Donna Dinges
She has not yet reopened her retail store for personal business, a conscious choice for Dinges, as she has an autoimmune disease and wants to limit her exposure. But the entrepreneur is not discouraged. To stay afloat, she is broadcasting live fashion shows that she presents in her store on Friday nights on Facebook, showcasing her designer mannequins of all different sizes with clothes and accessories. Your customers tune in, Dinges said, and then shop and pick up their sidewalk shopping during the week.
“I am very concerned about my own health … and I am also very concerned about my clientele,” said Dinges. “I made the decision to stay closed, but I didn’t close the doors.”
More broadly, small business sentiment fell to a new low in the first quarter, the CNBC survey finds. Trust fell from a score of 48 to 43 quarter-on-quarter, the lowest since CNBC and SurveyMonkey started tracking Main Street confidence in 2017. What’s more, the number of small business owners who say they believe they can continue to operate for more than a year fell from 67% in the fourth quarter to 55%.
Trust levels varied depending on the race of business owners. The CNBC survey found that fears of permanent closure are high among black small business owners, with 37% saying they can survive more than a year under current conditions, against 59% of white small business owners and 55% of business owners. Hispanic small businesses.
Black-owned companies that have not yet reopened after temporarily shutting down due to the pandemic (25%) compare to 8% of small white-owned companies.
Despite the challenges, the Small Business Confidence Index of the survey found that black small business owners remain optimistic with an overall small business sentiment score higher than their peers.
The Pay Check Protection Program has been a lifeline for some, but adjustments have been made to the program following protests by some companies and advocates last year that the PPP did not cater to minority and minority borrowers. In January, when the $ 284 billion program was relaunched, community financial institutions that typically serve smaller companies or may be mission-based, received first access to the portal.
So far, more than $ 103 billion has been approved for more than 1.4 million small business loans, according to the Small Business Administration. The SBA says that 82% of all loans went to companies that asked for less than $ 100,000, indicating that smaller companies were asking for help. In addition, almost a third of the loans went to companies in rural communities. Approval times have been extended with anti-fraud measures in place, with loans no longer being approved the next day as they were last year.
Needy small businesses
Government officials said they believe the money for the PPP will not run out, as it did in April 2020, when the program was first launched, and lawmakers continue to push for transparency around the demographic profiles of borrowing companies. President Biden has promised to include aid for needy small businesses in his $ 1.9 trillion pandemic package in the form of subsidies and financing, as the small business community is likely to need a continued lifesaver when the PPP closes in March. .
“If management does get funds directly from companies and business owners, it will really help the capital and working capital of those companies, rather than just acting effectively as a pass-through to their employees, which, of course, was the intention of the PPP. It is invaluable in its own way, “said Brian Blake, director of public policy at the Community Development Bankers Association.
Dinges said he struggled to obtain PPP financing last year, eventually turning to Kabbage for a loan to a small company after previous rejections. She is considering applying for a second draw loan this year and feels optimistic about the future, despite constant challenges. Its sales were down almost 40%, but it could be much worse considering everything Main Street suffered last year.
“I definitely feel hopeful. While driving through my community, I see empty shop windows, which is sad. But I’m looking at the empty windows of major retailers, “said Dinges.” And it occurred to me that these big retailers are doubling and I’m still standing … the loyalty I get from my customers really moves me. “