Page 45 - BusinessWest March 31, 2021

Recovery
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they’re going to spend money. And that affects us just like it impacts any other business. And I think more and more consumers feel we’re going to come out of the woods on this year, this sum- mer, whenever it is.”
The picture is improving when it comes to inventory issues, said Wirth, who expects the numbers of new cars on the lot to continue rising through the year. Meanwhile, manufacturers are keeping their foot on the accelera- tor when it comes to incentives. Over- all, he expects 2021 to be another solid year — one comparable to those just before the pandemic in terms of overall sales and service volume.
“It isn’t just vaccinations and dealing with these new variants. A lot of what will determine if there’s pent-up demand and
how it’s released is truly behavioral. There’s no economic reason for there not to be a sharp rebound; I think it’s behavioral,
it’s epidemiological, it’s medical.”
“We feel pretty about this year,” he said. “One news story can certainly change that, but the outlook for now is good, and that line about a rising tide lifting all boats is true, and we hope that this rising tide will help those busi- nesses in hospitality and other sectors that have suffered so much.”
One sector certainly looking for
a different kind of 2021 is the cloth- ing industry, specifically businesses focused on dress clothes. Many work- ers simply didn’t have to buy any in 2020, as they working at home or still toiling in the office, often with more casual dress codes to match those of people working from their kitchen table.
“As a business owner, 2020 was my most challenging year, bar none; I was faced with more struggles and compli- cations and challenges and problems to solve and situations to fix than I’ve ever faced before,” said William Bride- au, owner of Jackson Connor, located in Thornes Market in Northampton, adding that the store has managed to keep going through persistence — and a PPP grant. But the challenges have continued into 2021.
Indeed, the first quarter of this year
has in many ways been his most dif- ficult, he said, due to a gap between infusions of stimulus, when it became more difficult to pay the bills. As more support comes in, he’s feeling optimis- tic about 2021, but he needs people to start investing in new threads — and not just shirts that can be seen during Zoom meetings.
“A lot of people aren’t going for pants or more formal things below the waist,” he noted. “A lot of shirts, sweat- ers, and sport coats — and things have certainly veered more casual.”
But he has observed a pendulum swing of sorts, with more customers coming in recently looking for suits
and ties.
“One of our really good customers
came in recently and said, ‘I’ve had it — I’ve been in sweatpants for months, and I’m sick of it. I need a sportcoat, I need a shirt and tie, I need trousers. I want to look like I used to look; I miss that,’” said Brideau, adding that he believes many more people harbor similar sentiments.
Bottom Line
Over the past 12 months, people have come to miss a lot of the things they once enjoyed. The extent to which they’ve ‘had it’ with these matters —
everything from the clothes on their back to the restaurants they haven’t been frequenting — will ultimately determine not just the composite shape of the recovery, but how, and for whom, things bounce back.
As Melnik noted, just because the ‘go back in the water’ advisories are out doesn’t mean people will heed them. And if they don’t, more of that $4 tril- lion will stay in bank accounts. And that might ultimately push back the date when we can really say the pan- demic is behind us. u
George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]
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