How grim is the future of New York City?

Business flatlines in NYC.

I could think of happier ways to pass the day. But I love small business. I love the people who invent and grow their business. I love the competition and the edge of doing business in New York. So every week I check in with people to take the temperature of small business in the city. It’s stone cold.

If you walk down 5th Avenue, all the shops are shuttered in plywood. Officially the city began to reopen, but nobody is rushing into Manhattan to do business. The month of April was brutal. Major layoffs. And those jobs are gone.

Getting around the city used to be subways and cabs, but now the only viable way is bikes and walking. In the entertainment sector we’ve gone from lunches and meetings, actors and microphones, to home cooked meals and Zoom, stay-at-home workers and linen closets.

The vibration of collaboration becomes a pajama party. Happy Hour becomes early to bed.

Is all this going to work? Sure. If you’ve got kids at home and a Jersey commute, it’s going to feel great. Maybe what we’re losing we’ve already lost. But something is missing.

Remote work is all work. Isolation is draining. Our social lives quickly reduce to social networks and you know what that’s like.

My conversations with small business owners have common themes. Nobody knows what’s going on. Nobody knows how to plan. Everybody is waiting. And you can only wait for so…