Businesses across Northeast Ohio are fighting the same battle: staying alive while the country struggles to recover from the COVID-19 shutdowns. One owner isn’t sure she’ll be able to survive.
Jackie Larkins has been in the coffee business for seven years. In 2018, she opened Café Phix Midtown (6815 Euclid Ave.) in Cleveland. Larkins says the business was growing before she was forced to shut down in March 2020.
Larkins reopened at the beginning of June and is doing what she can to attract customers. She’s added curbside pickup and launched a new website hoping to stand out, but so far nothing has worked. Larkins now realizes the problem is more than half of the workers whose businesses are located around her are still working remotely.
She’s trying to stay open in any way she can. She’s waiting for a loan from Cuyahoga County to come through, and she was able to secure a loan from the Payroll Protection Program. That has allowed her to hire back an employee who will start next week.
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