Platteville Business Survey Results Reveal Business Hardship, Hope

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – Seventy-two area businesses weighed in on the Platteville Economic Partners’ COVID-19 Business Pulse Survey, conducted May 1-8, 2020. The survey was posed to better understand the issues facing businesses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The group reported that the survey showed during the pandemic 56 percent of businesses remained open, worked remotely or were in the office and an additional 17 percent were offering drive-thru or curbside services. An additional 28 percent reported their businesses were closed.

Nearly half of the respondents noted that health and safety were their greatest priority, followed by getting back to work. When asked how the community can rebound, “buy local” was a repeated recommendation, along with other community-building business events and promotional tactics.

Respondents were also asked about their business revenue in recent weeks:

• 24 percent - had less than a 25 percent decrease
• 18 percent - had a 25 percent to 50 percent decrease
• 19 percent - had a 76 percent - 99 percent decrease
• 15 percent - had no revenue
• 8 percent - had increases of up to 50 percent

As could be surmised, most businesses also saw expenditure decreases, with 8 percent having expenditure increases of less than 25 percent.

A total of 75 percent of respondents applied for some Federal or local grant assistance and, of those respondents,  95 percent received some form of assistance.  As part of the recovery strategy, business owners are looking for grants, low interest loans, reduced fees and marketing help. One recommendation was for the City to develop a door sign, explaining the city policy on social distancing in order to make it more consistent, safer for everyone and easier to enforce.

“We know that community matters and we are going to get through this as a community that cares,” Adam Ruechel, Platteville City Manager.  “The city is working with business owners to reopen responsibly and to ensure that we are an example of a city that is emerging stronger.”

Other key points of the survey revealed that under the current circumstances:

• 40 percent of respondents could be viable for 10 months
• 25 percent were uncertain of their longevity
• 15 percent could be viable from for 3 to 6 months, and
• 15 percent could be viable for 1 to 3 months.

In the free form comments section of the survey in response to the feelings about the economic impact of the pandemic the word “devastating” came up several times, and business owners highlighted the impact of supply chain, closed licensing facilities, job uncertainty slowing down building and other optional purchases, the cancelation of fundraisers and the long term impact of tax revenue for schools and communities.  For most businesses, even when revenue halts, monthly bills continue.

Along with the decrease in activity comes some savings and many business owners are reporting the economic impact to their families have been manageable, however that ties directly to how many wage earners are in the house and the nature of their work. Recent retirees are concerned about the market and some single income, nonessential work households are facing great hardships.

A total of 50 percent of the respondents were LLC, 29 percent were corporations, 7 percent partnerships, 7 percent non-profits and the remaining were sole proprietorships.  The respondents included:

• Financial/professional Services – 14 percent
• Retail – 14 percent
• Healthcare/Medical-related – 10 percent
• Bar/Restaurant – 7 percent
• Lodging – 4 percent
• Personal Services – 4 percent
• Arts/Culture – 4 percent
• Communications/Media – 4 percent
• Manufacturing, audio/video service, construction/inspection, auto repair, entertainment each represented 3 percent
• The balance of the respondents included Agriculture and or Ag-related, automotive, rental properties, yoga studios, web design and 11 other categories.

Platteville Economic Partners, sponsors of the survey, is a regional economic development group comprised of The City of Platteville, Platteville Regional Chamber, Grant County Economic Development Corporation, Main Street Platteville, the Platteville Industry Park and the Platteville Business Incubator. More information about Platteville is available at Platteville.org or by calling Joe Carroll, Community Development Director at (608) 348-9741.