COVID 5 Years Later: Looking through the lens of a small business owner in Center City

as we continue to Mark the five years since the start of the covid-19 pandemic today we're looking at looking at the impact on local businesses from closures to cuts and Staffing to that shift to remote work our Nidia Han is joining us now with a look at what happened and where we are today Nidia Sarah and Brian today we're looking at the covid-19 pandemic through the lens of a small business owner in Center City and as you will see while the pandemic is over its impacts will last a lifetime hi for here to go El Fuego's burrito business booms every lunch hour at 7th and walnut in Center City but not long ago business was ble take me back to March 2020 in the beginning it was very weird and it was kind of lonely owner Pete Ellis lost almost every employee many of them were single moms whose help was needed at home it was very taxing on my family and I know for my partner too they cut back hours and food costs we didn't pay ourselves for months at a time and I was for to do a side jobs like door Dash and Uber today uo still operates only on weekdays and only for lunch and just this past year Ellis and his partner had to sell their food truck which had been doing a Brisk business on Penn's Campus before the pandemic I can only imagine how you felt when you made that hard decision to sell the food truck it was just very sad for us like knowing that we were that we hadn't make that hard decision when that happens you'd be forced to adapt and change and and just keep on going according to our 6abc data journalist business closures in Philadelphia peaked in 2021 more than 3,400 locations shuttering 20% in the accommodations and Food Services industry 177% in the Arts entertainment and Recreation category followed by 133% in retail we just kept on fighting every week every week every week the positive news for Philadelphia overall is by 2022 the number of business locations and employees not only bounced back but Rose higher than pre pic numbers although some like Pete Ellis are still struggling to get back to that level our busiest days used to be Friday and now it's one of our slowest days cuz most people have that virtual day on Friday but Ellis has hope he'll soon open on Saturdays again he says hope mixed with hard lessons is the recipe for first survival then success that's one of the biggest things I've learned was when you're up against the wall you have two choices you can fight or you can flee and we chose to fight and here we are still you're all have a nice day yeah he really is a fighter of course survival alone is one form of success and by the way Ellis never took out a short-term PPP loan or any loan to stay afloat he said he and his partner decided to get through it on their own and while certainly it was not easy they did just that Sarah it all impacted Us in so many ways we haven't even thought about go on for a while Nidia thank you