The Warren Sun

As small businesses across the state struggle to stay afloat in the midst of the economic crisis created by restrictions related to COVID-19, and with Michigan ranking 14th in the country for closed businesses since the beginning of March, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a week in mid-September to be Small Business Week for Michigan.

A few days before the declaration of Small Business Week, Whitmer’s office issued another press release stating that 19 Michigan businesses had recently been levied $51,400 in fines after being cited by her office for failing to follow all the decrees related to COVID-19, according to reporting by Michigan Capitol Confidential.

In the past month, Yelp’s Local Economic Impact Report ranked Michigan 14th in the nation for the number of businesses that have been forced to close permanently since March 1, according to Michigan Capitol Confidential. The report is based on the number of businesses that have changed the status on their Yelp listings to “closed.”

The Local Economic Impact Report from Yelp shows that permanent business closures continue to be a growing problem, as permanent closures swapped places with temporary closures around the end of June, and have since grown to almost 100,000. The hardest-hit sectors have been the service sectors, including restaurants and stores, such as those that sell primarily apparel for men or women.

Although Michigan does rank 14th in the nation as a state, Detroit did not make it among the top metro areas for business closures in Yelp’s rankings, indicating the problem is spread out across Michigan’s rural areas as well.

A description of the methodology employed by Yelp notes that it is likely that more businesses have permanently closed or have severely restricted hours than are reflected in their numbers. The report also only included those businesses where the closure had either been confirmed by Yelp staff or where there had been an update by the confirmed business owner.