Main Street Monday –  June Coronavirus Economic Impact Report

June 29, 2020

By: Caity Witucki
Contributing Editor, Main Street Monday

Main Street Monday –  June Coronavirus Economic Impact Report

Utilizing Yelp’s impressive collection of economic data, the company’s Economic Advantage team has been able to track the coronavirus’ impact on millions of local businesses in real-time. Yelp’s most recent Coronavirus Economic Impact Report from June 25, 2020, reflects dramatic recent changes. 

According to the June report, states and cities are slowly reopening and unemployment rates are starting to decline from the recent all-time high. However, COVID-19 cases continue to increase and many communities are now responding to the social unrest prompted by the death of George Floyd. As a result of these changes, 140,000 small businesses remain closed and 41% of them have been shuttered permanently.

Additionally, Yelp’s most recent economic impact study made the following observations:

  •  20% of local businesses closed in April have reopened. Las Vegas, NV, endured the highest number of closures relative to the number of businesses in the city (1,921 total closures), while Los Angeles, CA, had the largest total number of closures (11,774 total closures).
  • Among those with the highest rate of business closures are shopping and retail (27,663 closed businesses), restaurants (23,981 closed businesses), beauty (15,348 closed businesses) and fitness (5,589 closed businesses).
  • Every state has shown an increase in searches for “Black-owned” businesses (up 1,785% from May).
  • Interest in outdoor activities – such as mountain biking (down 40%), lakes (down 34%), golf (down 33%) and hiking (down 28%) – have dropped in consumer interest. 
  • Indoor activities with increased consumer interest this month include escape games (up 182%), Go Karts (up 147%), axe throwing (up 113%), gyms (up 81%), bowling (up 63%) and yoga (up 42%).
  • Customers are headed back into malls with outlet stores, shopping centers and thrift stores (up 84%, 81%, 72%, respectively).

“As economies reopen, warm summer months arrive and consumers start spending more time out of their homes, we expect these shifts to continue changing at a dramatic rate,” says Yelp data scientist, Daniel Gole. “We’ll continue to measure and report on these changes in local economies in our upcoming Q2 Yelp Economic Average.”

Yelp’s full June economic impact report can be accessed here.

Sources:
Yelp Economic Average (YEA)