Huge amount of businesses going under due to covid

[pcpete]

We are the go to place in our first town. Others have opened and closed. Second shop was a 15 minute drive from first. Some from that town used to drive to the first location but the second shop expanded our reach. Third location was 15 minutes from second. That did the same thing. For us we have broken even on a new location on month two but it takes two years to fully ramp it up. While it is slow techs at new location are doing remotes for other shops and helping support the busy shops. We have one onsite truck that covers the entire area. If we open shop 4 and 5 we will need a second truck.

Interesting. I like the strategy

 

[Big Jim]

I'm really surprised to hear some of you are struggling.

We are busier than we have ever been, business is up at least double from last year (which was our best year to date)
September in particular we hit a record turnover.

Its not any particular area either, our main business is computer repairs (around 50%), phone repairs (around 25%), and refurbished machine sales (around 15%) and these percentages haven't really changed.

We have a very small premises though 250/300 sq ft, and currently I wish we had more, really don't want to give up the location though as that is what drives most of our business.

fwiw, if I were to guess we are probably about 95% residential

 

[TechLady]

My business has slowed also, and I'm a single mom now so this is not good timing. If anyone has any leads on remote support work I'd be grateful. OR any of you doing a little too well and need some help for your overflow, send me a message; I'd be happy to help.

 

[Bryce W]

Just reading these comments, I am trying to determine what conditions are making some of us busier than usual, while others are slower.
It looks like Residential focused businesses are doing better than Business/MSP?

 

[Sky-Knight]

I think it depends more on the economic makeup of the areas in question. My business as all but halted, but at the same time small businesses here in Phoenix are evaporating. The state's economy is based on a combination of tourism and military contracts... and one of those in a COVID world isn't happening.

 

[Canadian Tech]

Rent here does not change every place is going for $15sqrft even empty malls charge same price there are so many empty storefronts here never seen this before also there are no more niche businesses there is not even one video rental place or music store that sells vinyl.

Restaurants will be out of business if there is another 3 month lockdown i know 3 that had to downscale staff just to stay open i had to drop my landline because of costs gone to voip it is MUCH cheaper there is no comparing.

I talk alot with owner of pool hall next door he was closed for 6 months even though he is open now his business is down 80% even the movie theater cineplex they have no movies to show and are limited to how many they can have they have been running at a loss ever since they opened things don`t look good atm.

Finding stock on parts is getting harder and harder prices are going up to point can`t make any money takes a week even from large online retailers and there are limits on how many you can buy.

I work out of my home, always have and even I find business is down. With government assistance i'm able to keep a float. I'm finding it's harder to get stock as well and yes prices have really gone up. We can only hope and hang in there as long as we can. I don't think our government will shut things down but we can only hope that they don't.

 

[TechLady]

Just reading these comments, I am trying to determine what conditions are making some of us busier than usual, while others are slower.
It looks like Residential focused businesses are doing better than Business/MSP?

I was thinking this also. I am 99% residential but mine has slowed due to some other reasons I think, and a lot of that is on me.

 

[Galdorf]

I was thinking this also. I am 99% residential but mine has slowed due to some other reasons I think, and a lot of that is on me.

It is due to economic uncertainty many people have be furloughed because of business income evaporating complete shutdowns are a certainty.

Most people are holding on to what savings they have to ride out the pandemic my business clients have dropped 90% my residential have dropped 90%.

Some businesses like my friends table top gaming store games workshop and war games also D&D he cannot get stock to sell since UK is on lockdown and games workshop is based there so his income took a nose dive.

But it is not just him mining equipment repair companies which i use to service is also having a huge issue with ordering parts which are from China they now have to be made here and takes 3x longer and 3x more expensive.

 

[alexsmith2709]

Just reading these comments, I am trying to determine what conditions are making some of us busier than usual, while others are slower.
It looks like Residential focused businesses are doing better than Business/MSP?

Very much the make up of the area and customers i think. I am mainly residential, but a lot of my income comes from ink and toner cartridges, not just the repairs.
We've had to shut our shop for the second time this year and during the first lockdown not many thought to check the sign in our window, our social media, our email auto-responder or our phone message to say we'll help where possible, they just assumed we couldnt help because the shop was shut. Im hoping it changes for this lockdown and i have been promoting our website more.

Many people arent spending because they have little to no income. While i agree we should be busier with repairs and helping people work from home, we just havent seen that from our customers so guessing many of our walk-in customers have possibly lost their jobs or are on a reduced income and dont need to print or repair computers at the moment.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Well the good news on the pandemic front... here in the US at least we're seeing an upswing of cases, but the downward trend of hospitalizations and deaths continue.

There was a report back in March that said the genetic drift in SARS-COV-2 seemed to be causing it to mutate into a symptom-less virus. That seems to be happening, along with our doctors getting better at this mess. So I'm hopeful the two trends will get us to a place where we largely don't care about this virus anymore by the end of Q1.

Another issue I have to deal with? The primary ISPs out my way are all quasi-MSPs now... So the tiny shops are just getting their support from Cox. They're getting charged a fortune for it... so there's room to compete I just need to change my messaging... which is why I've slowly been hammering together a new website all year.

Just like Godaddy stealing all the tiny M365 customers... ugh.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Surprised so many are seeing slowdowns. We had ambitious goals for the year 2020...and we hired a new 6th position in our company in Feb. Both of those...right before things exploded with Covid.

.....but, things got busier and busier. We're all business clients, we have not seen many fold up.
We stayed engaged with them, migrating them "to the cloud" to help them work more easily from home.

We stayed in our offices...actually expanded our offices earlier this year due to the new 6th person...so our rent went up a bit.

We're actually not going to fall short of our ambitious 2020 end of the year $$$ goal...we might hit it.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@YeOldeStonecat You're on one of the coasts... the places that make money in the US no matter what happens.

Us poor sods out in fly over country are not doing so well. It'll come back, but for now things are a mess. You're much closer to the powerhouse economy of NYC than I am to LA.

 

[britechguy]

@Ski-Knight,

If memory serves, you're in the Phoenix metro area, are you not?

The following is not to say that anyone "has it good," but I'm with you that those who are in areas where lots of disposable income remains available are likely to see far less of a hit to their business than those of us "in the hinterlands."

I ask your location because if I am remembering correctly I'd think that you'd be in an "intermediate zone" where you'd be hit, but not as seriously as those of us "in the middle of nowhere."

I'd be willing to venture to say that location, location, location is the primary determiner of how much of a hit any given business is going to take when what they offer is of a more or less "optional right now" nature. And there are scads of computer-related things that can be put off, often indefinitely, when push comes to shove.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@britechguy You would be correct, and there is opportunity in the Phoenix Metro area still. And if I wasn't the parent of a high risk child, I could go get it.

COVID is wrecking Maricopa county right now too, and getting worse... so I'm not sure exactly what I'm supposed to do. So I'm rebranding, working on the website, and spending my days playing author for the same. I'm hoping that when I hit the public with this huge content blob Google helps me out in the leads department. Failing that after the 1st of the year I'll have to take more drastic action.

For now I'm just being the bad guy for telling family that no... we will NOT be there for Thanksgiving or Christmas, because kids continuing to live is more important than the usual reunions.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

@YeOldeStonecat You're on one of the coasts... the places that make money in the US no matter what happens.

Us poor sods out in fly over country are not doing so well. It'll come back, but for now things are a mess. You're much closer to the powerhouse economy of NYC than I am to LA.

NYC, Boston, really have little impact on us for resources of business.
We do have some clients that are in the defense stack, and our area was built around Electric Boat..builder of submarines, and we have the Groton Sub Base across the river. Otherwise...our area is a tourist area, and just nice pricy shoreline. We are lucky to have clients that remain open no matter what (such as some schools, and medical, and insurance, and...and..).

 

[pcpete]

Just reading these comments, I am trying to determine what conditions are making some of us busier than usual, while others are slower.
It looks like Residential focused businesses are doing better than Business/MSP?

that was my thought on it

 

[Moltuae]

Just reading these comments, I am trying to determine what conditions are making some of us busier than usual, while others are slower.
It looks like Residential focused businesses are doing better than Business/MSP?

I'm 100% business IT but I'm still busier than ever.

Much of it is just luck I think. I've been extremely fortunate because almost none of my customers have been affected. 2 of my biggest customers are garden centres, which were allowed to stay open during both (UK) lock-downs. A large (30 bay) garage that I provide IT support for specialise in servicing emergency vehicles, so they've been busy. And I provide IT services for a number of other industries, including vehicle body shops (largely unaffected) and an accountancy firm (who are busier than ever). On the other hand, one IT company that I frequently work along side, who provide PoS systems for the garden centres, have been devastated by the pandemic because the vast majority of their customers are in the hospitality sector.

 

[dremer]

I have checked my competition most are closed down now things don`t look good here service industry is taking a beating and looks like another total shutdown is imminent any time i don`t know if i can survive another shutdown.

My work has dried up insurance work have not seen anything for months my service calls to movie theater banks and malls nothing for months i have been in the business for 35 years never seen it this bad i had to close my store front and downsize from 4000 sq ft to 20 sq ft for just service now not getting phone calls or walk ins for weeks on end.

Now looks like my options are limited i can retire or try to find other ways to make money i have talked to other shop owners and they are in same boat only thing that kept them open way government assistance even my friend who runs a gaming store games workshop partner is having major issues getting stock to sell now that England has shut down again he won`t have access to any more stock.

Going to try staying open with government assistance as long as possible but that might end by next year what is really strange my phone use to ring off the hook with calls from other service contractors now nothing also business service has dropped to almost nothing never seen anything like this have done quite alot of work for doctors and lawyers now nothing.

The good thing is IT never sleeps, so we're still seeing a large number of It Consultants, MSP's, and break/fix shops holding their own, mostly setting up home work stations for the new telecommuting bonanza.

 

[Galdorf]

Trudeau has call for compete shutdown oh well i will keep working what little there is and try to ride this out with government assistance.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trdueau-premiers-covid-restrictions-1.5796720

Cases here are all from schools and are skyrocketing i expect everything will be curbside again in next few weeks and schools closed down as well as restaurants back to takeout only as number of people where working at fast food giants are also testing positive because they are mostly students.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Just reading these comments, I am trying to determine what conditions are making some of us busier than usual, while others are slower.
It looks like Residential focused businesses are doing better than Business/MSP?

Without looking around, I'd wager that those that support businesses are doing better.
After I look around at my colleagues, and after looking at our own explosive activity...(we only support businesses)...I'd say MSPs and IT that caters to SMB are doing very well. I don't see how residential would fair better. Setting our employees up to work from home, their employer is paying for all of that.