Closed 8%, Open 59%, Reduced Hours 33%
8% of businesses in the City of Hamilton, North Hamilton, St. Georges and Dockyard are permanently closed, 59% are fully open and 33% are temporarily closed and/or operating on reduced hours.
These were some of the key takeaways from the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce foot survey on the impact of COVID-19 on business in Bermuda.
A spokesperson said, “To gain a deeper understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on business in Bermuda, the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce has conducted a foot survey to help document the change in business operations across four major business communities including: the City of Hamilton, North Hamilton, St. Georges and Dockyard.
“The data from the survey was collected over a three week period in late July to mid-August, and looks at the overall status of businesses who are currently fully open, business who are operating on reduced hours, businesses temporarily closed and permanently closed.
“The survey has focused on four main sectors, food and beverage, personal care, clothing and specialty stores [which includes gift stores, homewares, unique products and combination stores].
“See attached slides on the total impact in the 4 main regions.
Key takeaways are:
- Permanently closed 8%, Fully open 59%, with Temporarily closed and Reduced hours representing 33%.
The breakdown by sector is as follows:
- Food & Beverage Fully Open 60%, Permanently Closed 5%, Temporarily Closed 8%, Reduced Hours 27%.
- Personal Care Fully Open 85%, Permanently Closed 5%, Temporarily Closed 2%, Reduced Hours 8%.
- Clothing Fully Open 50%, Permanently Closed 11%, Temporarily Closed 7%, Reduced Hours 32%.
- Specialty Fully Open 42%, Permanently Closed 3%, Temporarily Closed 18%, Reduced Hours 37%.
Kendaree Burgess, CEO at the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce shares: “The Chamber of Commerce is pleased to be able to share this valuable and important information with its members and the broader businesses community.
“The survey provides a great insight across a broad range of business in Bermuda. The impact of Covid-19 on local business is unmistakable and we will continue to advocate on their part. The Chamber will repeat the survey later in the year and again in the spring of 2021 to provide a more fulsome study on the impact of Covid-19 on local business.”
As the island and world deals with the Covid-19 pandemic, we are doing our best to provide timely and accurate information, and you can find more information on the links below.
- All: Our coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic here
- Official: The Bermuda Government website here
- World Stats: Live graph of all cases worldwide here
- Bermuda Stats: Chart of the Bermuda stats here
- Timeline: Visual look at the timeline here
- Comprehensive: Our Covid-19 website here
And a plan from the PLP that belongs in cloud Cuckoo land!
PLP is killing small business. BTA could do a much better job also. How many hotels do we have have left to close their doors? BDA is almost done.
“Kendaree Burgess, CEO at the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce shares: “The Chamber of Commerce is pleased to be able to share this valuable and important information with its members and the broader businesses community.”
I am sure Bermuda Chamber of Commerce is pleased to share that information. I am not sure the PLP share that pleasure.
The Somerset Country Squire for selling off its tables, has that gone as well.
While
I appreciate the Chamber sharing these heart wrenching percentages, I believe concrete numbers rather than percentages would be more transparent.
For instance: 8% permanently closed and 558 “data points” or businesses.
This equates to 45 businesses having shut their doors along with all the ensuing staff members, rents, suppliers etc.
That’s clearer in my view than 8% of 558 data points.