Main Street Monday — Ohio and Illinois Close all Restaurants

March 16, 2020

Main Street Monday — Ohio and Illinois Close all Restaurants

By Bob Coleman
Editor, Coleman Report

And the hits keep on coming.

In a major blow to Main Street, Ohio and Illinois have closed all restaurants and bars.

“I’m aware that this will impact many, many good workers. I can’t tell you how sorry I am, but we will work to mitigate the suffering. It is our goal for everyone to get through this,” says Ohio Governor DeWine.

Restrictions on restaurant patronage have also been placed in California and DC.

Same with Puerto Rico.

It appears Tennessee will soon follow suit

For Seattle, 50 restaurants and bars have self-closed, “though many hope to reopen when the crisis passes.” Many eateries reported sales dives of 90%.

From the Seattle Times:

“This is the worst that I have seen it. It’s unprecedented,” said Larry Kurofsky, owner of the Heavy Restaurant Group, which runs 10 Seattle-area bars and bistros. He said layoffs are coming but did not specify how many.

“We are focused on group dining and catering, and pretty much most of that has gone away,” Kurofsky said.

“To be frank, we are flat-out scared right now,” said James Weimann, who owns 11 restaurants in the Seattle area.

Weimann is in talks with his landlords to negotiate a rent reduction during the slowdown.

Note the last line “negotiate a rent reduction” The domino effect now impacts all your CRE loans.

Day care centers are suspending operations for the year, losing their monthly income. Small businesses serving students at universities that are closed for the rest of the year and going online will be hammered.

With travel being curtailed, last week, 46% of Coleman Report Live! Attendees say their employer has suspended non-essential travel which means hospitality income will drop sharpley, making it difficult for them to make their loan payments.

(The Hunter Hotel conference for investors scheduled for next week in Atlanta was just cancelled. So was the South Eastern Small Business Lender Conference in Asheville.)

I was asked by my son, the producer of Coleman Report Live! if this is like 2008, I said, NO, this is 2020.

Just amazing, this all has happened in two weeks.

I urge SBA to move, with all due speed, to process the $50 billion proposed by the Administration.

But they don’t need to listen to me. I have first hand knowledge they have an “All Hands on Deck ” mentality and they worked over the weekend to make this happen — to give lenders immediate guidance on the products they will offer how to help Main Street in what is now a serious economic crisis.

These times will soon pass, but it will be a rough ride for all of us in the near future.

May you and your family be safe and we’ll sort this mess all out. Americans always do!