/55% of businesses closed since March are now permanent, Yelp says – Business Insider

55% of businesses closed since March are now permanent, Yelp says – Business Insider


  • As the coronavirus pandemic continues, permanent closures are making up a larger share of businesses that have shut, according to Yelp data released Wednesday.
  • Permanent closures account for 55% of all businesses that’ve closed since March 1, Yelp reported, citing data through July 10.
  • “Overall, permanent closures have steadily increased since the peak of the pandemic with minor spikes in March, followed by May and June,” Justin Norman, vice president of data science at Yelp, wrote in the report. 
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As the coronavirus pandemic recession drags on, business closures thought to be temporary are increasingly becoming permanent, data from Yelp show. 

Permanent closures account for 55% of all businesses that’ve closed since March 1, Yelp reported Wednesday, citing data through July 10. That’s a jump from June, when Yelp found that 41% of business closures since March were permanent. 

“Overall, permanent closures have steadily increased since the peak of the pandemic with minor spikes in March, followed by May and June,” Justin Norman, vice president of data science at Yelp, wrote in the report. 

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The uptick in permanent closures is occurring even as total closures decline, according to the report. As of June 15, there were 140,000 business closures, according to Yelp data, which increased to 1470,000 by the end of the month.

Through July 10, the number of closed businesses decreased to 132,500, reflecting “rapidly evolving situations at the local level” as some states pause or roll back reopening plans to combat a spike in coronavirus cases. 

Permanent closures are the highest in the restaurant industry, which was one of the first and hardest hit by sweeping shutdowns that began in March to curb the spread of COVID-19. Of all the restaurants closed in July, 60% have been permanent closures, according to Yelp data, a 23% increase from June 15. 

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Bars, nightlife, beauty, fitness, and retail businesses have also experienced high closure rates, according to the report. Nearly half of all shopping and retail businesses that’ve closed since March 1 are permanent shutterings, far outpacing the number that’ve been able to reopen as states loosen their pandemic shutdown restrictions. 

States with spikes in COVID-19 cases such as Texas, Florida, and Arizona are also seeing an uptick in temporary closures in recent weeks, according to Yelp. Las Vegas, Nevada, is the metro area with the largest number of permanent closures — 861 businesses in the city have permanently closed since March due to a decline in tourism, according to the report. 

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