Small Business Owner On Deciding To Close Permanently: 'It Makes Us Angry’ | NBC News NOW

Some businesses, many mom and pop shops may never recover from the coronavirus pandemic. A group of business owners who made the tough decision to permanently shut their doors speak out about their struggles.

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Small Business Owner On Deciding To Close Permanently: 'It Makes Us Angry’ | NBC News NOW

[classicredwine]

These are the types of businesses that should’ve gotten the PPP not large corporations

[LisaS]

I'm so sorry; this is very sad for you small business owners.

[stevemean]

Sign of middle class are going down hill.😭

[sychodogg]

corporate america 2020, where ceo's are going to give themselves multi-million dollar bonuses by the year's end with corporate bailout money

[TheStoneWhisperer]

As I sat & sincerely listened to all these small business owners, let me translate the first woman's message "We decided to take the profit we made on the backs of so many for so many years and run. We are not going to keep employees on the payroll and sacrifice our stash". That is what she really said! She hardly even looked more than a little bit bothered by her decision. In fact, I didn't feel a whole lot of sympathy in any of the businesses interviewed. My good friend can be truly classified as a small business owner of a Chinese Restaurant in Phoenix and I hear story after story of all the crap he does to keep his profits in his pockets. I hear of all the "cash employees" he hires to keep them off his taxable income, all the deliveries he makes that are hidden from the Govt and all the individuals who sacrifice years for him only to get sacked when the owner feels a change is needed. I really don't hear any GOOD that comes out of many of the small businesses, especially from the "service economy sector". I think we need to get away from an unsustainable "Service economy" and get back to what we once did so well, manufacturing! We need to bring back our jobs from China and we need to focus on what is important in this world! Going to Gotham Bar & Grill is NOT one of them! We need to meet around our Dinner table as a family going forward, not sitting around some table in a Restaurant where the food was served by someone making $10/hr! We need to get back to our roots and do what we did best! I know my comments will bring some not so favorable responses, but the truth hurts.

[asahel]

Restaurants and other small business has no choice but indeed to close permanently as rent is eating up their money and to get away from the contracts, its the best decision to go, NOT loans from Government as this may last longer than 6 months or more.

[burningcoal]

Unfortunate that people make more money by sitting at home than the essential workers risking their lives

[cecilianorris]

Oh well, like Nancy Pelosi said, its inconvenient.

[Aliusmi]

I closed mine in Boston on 1st of May, 2020. The business would Cary so many families is closed. What I would do! I don’t know. Would I be able to put that much effort to startup and wait the business to run, I don’t think I could. So depressing .

[itsmelili]

It's definitely a mourning process! Well, it was and still is for me. Especially when you have worked so hard for success - to have it just end abruptly and unexpectedly.

[latifajenkins]

Please would Ellen and all other celebrities help these people keep they businesses open! Y’all have millions and millions y’all can help one business at a time and it would be like y’all buying a new car for y’all! But to see these people lose everything is so sad!

[visoroverwatch]

Trump: What do you have to lose? 2020 came and gave us the answer: Everthing

[sct]

We need 1 year of emergency fund for our personal finance, so why don't small businesses have the same?

[GrimJerr]

👍 proof a "service economy" is not sustainable. We need people thinking ahead to the next century challenges of infrastructure on a planet experiencing rapid Climate Change. We've gotten to comfortable, time to channel that energy into the task of survival, not stroking each others comfort zones.

[GrimJerr]

Feeding people can be a noble thing, but we've managed to create an entire sector of the population that doesn't know how to feed itself. While all the while creating a food supply system that has broken down and now is wasting food at record levels plowing under crops, spilling milk, breaking eggs.

[rogerdalesk]

These types of businesses, restaurants and breweries, are hard enough to start because there are too many. Next time you start a biz, avoid these. Do something involving computers.

[Eric-zkhu]

This crisis has tremendous gigantic differences between the affected and the not really affected, where the not really affected are oblivious to the devastation of the affected. People who can work at home online or own businesses that they can manage in the privacy of their office or are in sectors that have not been shut down complain about the inconveniences of wearing facemasks or not being able to get a haircut, but they don't really fathom the situation that others are going thru. PRIME example would be Congress, they still have their jobs and the vast majority of them are older and wealthy enough that they could live extravagantly the rest of their lives if they never worked another day. Stimulus is needed ASAP like yesterday not 2 months from now! So Pausing and analyzing will prove to be disastrous. What good are the whole PPP and loans for small businesses when even with reopening businesses are so affected they have no chance of being profitable. Why should you keep employees on the payroll or take out loans to get you by for a month when it is clear your industry is now unprofitable. Congressman still have their jobs and benefits so they complain about the hassle of reconvening and take weeks at a time off. If bombs went off in NY, Boston, Los Angeles, New Orleans and other cities do you think they would think its appropriate to take days off and pause to analyze the situation?? Well over 90, 000 people have died in the last 3 months and billion dollar industries that were employing millions of people are crippled, so yeah bombs have gone off. Restaurants, airlines, travel, tourism, sports and the entertainment industry are huge industries that will be greatly affected for years.

[memyself]

my barbershop is still closed my hair is getting long

[gyuongnam]

We are decided closing our Nail business today. I don’t have choice. We didn’t get any ppp loan.

[LS-lfgb]

For all the many negative comments about the entrepreneurs... There is a huge lack of understanding and appreciation for what entrepreneurs contribute. Even during the lockdown, they still had to continue paying the commercial lease (or eventually pay the accumulated principal and interest), the utilities, and some continued to pay employees. Even for those that were open, what happens when 90% of your customers are home unemployed, are choosing not to spend money as usual, or won't have jobs when the lockdown ends? The commercial lenders aren't decreasing the mortgages, and other expenses aren't decreasing. Now you are throwing money into a pit. Tough customized decisions have to be made. Also, consider that there are many billion dollar businesses that are closing, which could have done better with the free money that the government has thrown at them for the past decade. I don't think it's fair to look down at the small business owner who was willing to work hard, create jobs, and grab life by the balls. I celebrate them.