Something Random Something Business

Evening All. I wanted to touch on two topics today. The effects of Covid on Small Businesses. And then a story from history.

First the effects of Covid continue to linger, especially within the small business community. The chart below shows the % of small businesses that have closed their doors since the crisis began. 37% of Leisure & Hospitality businesses are not open sine the crisis, 19% of retail, 24% of small businesses in total are no longer open. What's most concerning is that these numbers continue to worsen as the year and lock-downs drag on.

Second I wanted to add a bit of light hearted history. Below is a link as well as a snippet from the Kansas State Register, March 1900 Edition. In the article parents and librarians complain that ever since the library was made free, children are reading far too much, and should instead be playing outdoors or doing school work. Some of my favorite quotes include “Great care must be exercised by parents to see that their children do not read too much” and “When visiting a school recently 3 pupils in one room were noticed reading books under their desks". I thought it was funny considering the iphone/ipad addictions of children today. Obviously the mental benefits of reading far outweigh the benefits of playing on a touch screen, but it seems parents have been fighting the same battles for 100's of years. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/61943132/the-kansas-state-register/