CLOSURES

“Well, the small markets were where they were making their money.”

The discontinuation of stores in rural areas not only impacts revenue that is invested back into the community because of sales taxes, it impacts people on a much more personal level.

“You see people you know, who had jobs, who had opportunities, who had a career that they were building that goes away,” McKim said. “Some of them are able to easily transition somewhere else, but some of them aren’t.

… There’s a personal cost that folks bear and then as a community there’s a cost because we see our friends and neighbors negatively impacted.”

Despite the closure of hundreds of large chain business locations across the nation, small businesses surged in the second half of 2020 and have continued to do so since, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Nodaway County businesses were no different. During the first months of the pandemic, McKim said business owners had to adapt to the new wave of shopping while in-person business slowed to nearly nothing. Naturally, some businesses met their end, while others were of small businesses were expected to shut down due to the pandemic. businesses permanently closed across the U.S. during the first year of COVID. able to continue on.

McKim said NCED offered funding and webinar series toward the beginning of the pandemic so businesses could easily transition to online sales as limits were placed on brick-and-mortar shopping. Though restrictions have been lifted, the foot traffic seen pre-pandemic hasn’t been seen since.

“I’ve seen a lot of other economic development professionals in my line of work talking about how easy it was for them to do that and not even thinking about how that impacted their local shops,” McKim said. “The scary part to me is that if professionals in my line of work aren’t thinking of the impacts, the general public a lot of times isn’t. Online shopping is going to be a major challenge.”

Projections from the beginning of COVID set small business closures at anywhere from 25-35%. McKim said Nodaway County didn’t see anywhere near that number and gives credit to local owners and shopping and their ability to adapt.

“I’ve always been impressed with the heart of our local businesses, ownership and their grit,” he said. “...We didn’t see anything near that. I think that’s a testament to our community at large and their understanding that they need to support local well, because if they don’t, then they won’t be there in the future.”