Reopening or Going Out of Business?

[Stocker Steve]

Wife talked me into taking an afternoon off so we went to a local lake town. Stores were quiet. Several were closed for good... There were some sidewalk setups for bars and restaurants, but there were also lots of empty tables. Spoke with a local shop owner. He said the lakes were busy but many folks were not coming into town.

How much of your local economy do you expect to come back in 2020?

What 2021 farm and ranch issues to you expect when the Trump checks stop?

 

[1982vett]

Well for the farm/ranch....nothing we haven't already been dealing with for the past 50 years. Business as usual.

 

[Dave]

The ranchers.... 550 pound steers bringing $900+. They aren't dancing in the streets but they aren't crying either.

Not a lot of "farming" here. Some potato and small grains. Those markets always go up and down so they are use to it. A fair amount of hay raised for sale. That market is good enough that they aren't going broke. Grass hay is around $110 a ton, alfalfa is $140-$160.

Non agriculture it is business as usual with the exception of restaurants. I can pretty well count the restaurants on my fingers. How they are going to fair is anyone's guess. I have a friend who is a electrical contractor. He says he is too busy. He told me that one of the building contractors that he does work for has 9 houses lined up to build. That is a lot in a county with the population that is here. Go to town early in the morning and the motels have the normal amount of cars in the parking lot.

 

[TexasBred]

A lot of small business affected in this area but some actually need to be thinned out a bit so those remaining can make a decent living. When you live in a town with a population of 1,400 and there are 5 convenience stores and 5 hamburger joints the pie is being sliced pretty thin. Still not as thin as the baptist population being spread over 7 churches. lol

 

[kenny thomas]

We had almost nothing before and will have less when it's over.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

We had almost nothing before and will have less when it's over.

They say you can't divide by zero, but some places can sure come close.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Restaurants claim to employ the most people of any US industry. Don't think the employees are cross trained for construction or heavy equipment yet.

MN is closing two prisons due to budget shortfalls. I don't think they are going out of business. I assume they just reduced sentences and sent some inmates home to self quarantine.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Does not sound like you have any manufacturing or processing left.

 

[Dave]

Does not sound like you have any manufacturing or processing left.

Baker City has a population of about 10,000 and there is only 3 hamburger joints. The other 6 towns in the county only 3 have a place to eat. One has a famous steak house with absolutely great food. I worry about them because the owners are pretty old. Will they come back or just retire? Another one is well out away from anything (nearly 40 miles to Baker and the freeway). Just a small cafe. Some one will run it. The third is an old gold rush town that gets a lot of tourist trade in the summer. That has slowed to a crawl this summer. Again it is way out there on a road to nowhere. I don't believe that there is enough local business to support a restaurant.

 

[callmefence]

A lot of small business affected in this area but some actually need to be thinned out a bit so those remaining can make a decent living. When you live in a town with a population of 1,400 and there are 5 convenience stores and 5 hamburger joints the pie is being sliced pretty thin. Still not as thin as the baptist population being spread over 7 churches. lol

Same here.. some small cafes closed but they couldn't have been doing much anyway. Plus perfect time to go under with unemployment available for self employed.
We're telling people 3-4 months out before we can think about starting and charging 100.00 refundable fee to those not very local for a bid to keep people from wasting time we don't have. Everyone I know is to busy.