Posted on May 12, 2023
Companies are shedding office space — and it may be killing small businesses
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https://www.npr.org/2023/05/12/ [login to see] /work-from-home-office-space-small-businesses
James Wallace Sears has more shoes at his repair shop these days than he knows what to do with.
"These are all pandemic shoes," says Sears, 80, pulling out drawer after drawer full of leather boots, suede loafers and designer flats. "They were dropped off here pre-pandemic, and they never picked them up."
The shoes mostly belong to lawyers, consultants and financial advisers. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, they would leave their broken soles with Sears and head to work in the nearby corporate towers. After shutting down for a few years, Sears recently reopened and figured he'd see all his old customers again.
But everything is different now.
James Wallace Sears has more shoes at his repair shop these days than he knows what to do with.
"These are all pandemic shoes," says Sears, 80, pulling out drawer after drawer full of leather boots, suede loafers and designer flats. "They were dropped off here pre-pandemic, and they never picked them up."
The shoes mostly belong to lawyers, consultants and financial advisers. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, they would leave their broken soles with Sears and head to work in the nearby corporate towers. After shutting down for a few years, Sears recently reopened and figured he'd see all his old customers again.
But everything is different now.
Companies are shedding office space — and it may be killing small businesses
Posted from npr.org
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Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 1
The dramatic increase in remote work is one of those "societal upheavals" that happens and as all societal upheavals, there is potential good that comes from it as well as potential bad.
Another impact that doesn't get a lot of media headlines (unless you read the business journals/sites) is the significant impact it's having on cities tax revenues - most reports are focused on the exodus of residents of the cities and the impact on property taxes.
Not only are the office vacancy rates dramatically higher than pre-pandemic rates, but as the article PO1 William "Chip" Nagel posted points out is the secondary impact to the 'supporting businesses' in the city that the on-site workers would use. The tertiary impact to the city is the additional loss of taxes that those supporting businesses had. For example, this alone will probably account for a >$100M loss in sales tax revenue in New York City.
Another impact that doesn't get a lot of media headlines (unless you read the business journals/sites) is the significant impact it's having on cities tax revenues - most reports are focused on the exodus of residents of the cities and the impact on property taxes.
Not only are the office vacancy rates dramatically higher than pre-pandemic rates, but as the article PO1 William "Chip" Nagel posted points out is the secondary impact to the 'supporting businesses' in the city that the on-site workers would use. The tertiary impact to the city is the additional loss of taxes that those supporting businesses had. For example, this alone will probably account for a >$100M loss in sales tax revenue in New York City.
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