AUSTIN, Texas — One by one, Austinites have witnessed local restaurants and stores shutting down during the COVID-19 pandemic. But it's not just an issue here – it's happening across the country.
According to Yelp, which has been tracking which businesses on the app have had to shut down, by June 15, there were 139,339 business closures since March 1. Of those, 41% were permanent closures.
By June 15, 1,427 total businesses in the greater Austin-Round Rock metro area had been closed, permanently or temporarily, since March 1.
Most recently, Dart Bowl fell victim to the economic impacts COVID-19 has had on Austin businesses. After 65 years, Dart Bowl announced Tuesday that it and its cafe will shut down on Friday, July 17. The company's other locations, like Westgate Lanes and Highland Lanes, will stay open.
"Well, it’s been heartbreaking for us," co-owner John Donovan told KVUE on Wednesday. "When we opened [back] up in May, we were ecstatic, we were excited. We thought that people would be ready to come out and go bowling – everyone had been couped up for months during quarantine. And they didn’t come. They didn’t come back in numbers that would sustain us, numbers we could even break even [with].”
Donovan said the pandemic was a factor in the decision to close Dart Bowl.
"Sadly, got to the point where we just had no other opportunity but to close. It’s just been heartbreaking," Donovan said. "I think the pandemic was everything the last few months for us."
He added that he encourages people to support local businesses.
"If I could say one thing, it is if you’ve got a local business, an independent business, that you’re fond of, support 'em," he said.
In North Austin, The Mill Bar and Grill has gone through what many other places have: first shutting down in the spring, then getting the chance to reopen their dining rooms and bars and then having to shut back down again.
"It’s frustrating," owner Wes Burch told KVUE. “I’m more worried about this time."
According to Gov. Greg Abbott's guidance, restaurant dining rooms can be open up to 50% capacity – but that only applies to restaurants that have less than 51% of their gross sales from alcoholic beverages.
While Burch's business has a full kitchen and is pretty much half restaurant, half bar, it makes more money in alcohol sales, which results in him not being able to keep the dining room open.
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"It’s hard to find employees even if we are open," Burch said. "It breaks my heart to see all these other establishments folding. And believe it or not, we may be next."
Burch added while they are still able to do curbside pick-up, it isn't enough now that other restaurants are able to open their dining rooms partially. He feels having to close a dining room should be a case-by-case basis.
“We just want to be fair and be able to be treated [fairly] and be able to open and if we do something wrong, shut us down. But we did nothing wrong. But we were shut down,” he said.
While the business received financial help early on in the pandemic, Burch said they're worried about the future. Right now, they're trying to find a way to convert themselves into a full restaurant.
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