A Long Walk on a Short Pier

More good news. From this week’s El Paso Inc.:

As they exhaust pandemic aid and see no end to the economic crisis that has crushed their income, more El Paso businesses are closing permanently.

More than 120 businesses in El Paso closed for good from March 1 to July 10, according to new data from Yelp, the business listing and review site.

. . .

The Yelp data undoubtedly undercounts the number of businesses that have permanently closed, since many in El Paso are not listed on the platform and have closed quietly.

(Oddly, even though that is the story featured on the cover of the dead tree edition of the Inc., it’s hard to find on the El Paso Inc. website. I guess they didn’t want us to worry our pretty little heads about a tanking economy.)

Economists predict that, nationally, a third of the economy will be shut down as a result of the Coronavirus. El Paso may fare a little better, because our local economy is buoyed by Fort Bliss and the large federal government presence.

But wait till those soldiers are restricted to base. Then we’ll only have the downstream revenue, from Fort Bliss’ civilian employees.

El Paso’s poor. We’ve been getting by with less for a long time. We can still do it.

But the future will be different than the past.

2 comments

  1. Happy to tell you that the story is on the website, number one article.

    1. Yeah, it appeared as the Top Story after my post. Coincidentally, I’m sure.

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