As city returns to normal, small businesses have simple message: They’re still hurting

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    PHILADELPHIA (KYW) — A local boutique is pushing ahead after being looted and nearly losing it all. Small businesses are still very much struggling to dig out of more than a year of closures and cutbacks.

The message is this: the city is open, and small businesses still very much need the support.

“There was glass everywhere,” Kin Boutique owner Joey Clark said.

Just over a year ago, Kin Boutique was one of many Philadelphia shops looted as riots broke out in the city and across the nation in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd. It was hit on top of mounting COVID-19 closures.

“There were days that I was downstairs crying, like how am I going to keep going? How am I going to do this?” Clark said.

In August last year, Yelp reported more than 1,000 Philadelphia-area businesses permanently closed.

“I would say at least 80% of our competitors closed,” Clark said. “It’s not a win. Philadelphia needs to be a shopping destination.”

Fast forward to now and a return to normal, something small businesses say will still take some time.

“People still need to remember that businesses still need to get out of this hole that they were in,” Clark said.

From inventory to hiring.

“We need help, we went from nobody in the store to having everybody now,” Clark said.

Restarting the places that define the culture and communities of the city isn’t guaranteed.

“I rolled my eyes because it has just been tough,” Clark said.

But it is possible and happens every time we decide where and who to shop.

“It really does make a huge difference to small businesses if you take that extra step to come in,” Clark said.

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