How Local Businesses Are Adapting Their Services and Insights from the COVID-19 Small Business Impact Survey

Essentially Well Oiled is a store in Colden, NY and we offer local products from about 14 different suppliers. Anything from honey to maple syrup and jewelry to jelly, our biggest selling product is chocolates that I make and infuse with essential oils. We started about 3-years ago selling online and opened our brick-and-mortar store in February of 2019. While our store is still open, we have a 2 person limit and we offer online ordering options. We’ve taken a lot of steps to help customers feel safe and also offer curbside pick-up. 

Next, we will speak with Alan Traverse, the head of research for Thryv Inc., to talk about the latest research related to the impact COVID is having on small businesses. Like everyone else, we know small businesses are concerned and this research helps sheds light on what areas they are most concerned about. When we asked them what impact the pandemic has had on the demand for their products or services, 69 percent said they had seen a large decrease in demand. For those that had seen a decrease in demand, 64 percent said they had cut employee hours and another 22 percent said they expected they would. One of the open-ended questions we asked was what are they doing to overcome the decrease in demand. Many of the local auto repair shops said they had instituted a key drop process and a local church said they had started a drive-in church service. We plan to continue the survey over the coming weeks and months so that we can provide insight into the state of small businesses throughout the pandemic. 

Colts Neck Pharmacy is a local pharmacy in Colts Neck, NJ that has taken an innovative approach to keep its customers and staff safe during the pandemic. We set up our website to allow people to not only put their orders in but also let us know when they arrive so we can provide curbside service. We implemented the process about a week ago and while it was slow at first, now we are getting more requests through our website than phone calls. We also hired a delivery service to allow us to deliver any products ordered within 24 hours to the customer's doorstep. We require all employees to wear masks and gloves as well as socially distance from each other and customers. 

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