Some businesses opening, expanding despite pandemic hurdles
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. » Prospective entrepreneurs are still at least thinking about starting businesses, according to U. S. Census Bureau data. The number of applications for business tax identification numbers was downmore than a third at the end of March compared to year- earlier levels; in the week that ended Oct. 3, themost recent data available, they were up nearly 40% over the same week a year earlier. The applications don’t necessarily mean businesses were started, but the numbers do show that despite the virus’s grip on the economy, people were considering it.
Square, a company that helps companies process credit card payments, said one in three of its new clients in the second quarter of 2020 were new businesses; and Stripe, another payment processing company, reported that the new businesses using its platform that have opened since the pandemic have
generated over $10 billion in revenue.
“The interruption that it created is an extra hurdle that we have to overcome, but it also lends itself to being a business opening up in a period of time when you have very little competition,” Cohen said.
In Florida, as the vast majority of fitness clubs switched to virtual classes, Legacy Fit took the opposite approach. The state was one of the nation’s COVID-19 hot spots in July, but CEO Manning Sumner decided to open new studios in Fort Lauderdale and Pembroke
Pines, hosting classes in a ballroom- sized outdoor tent to ensure safety, while allowing clients to exercise in person.
His gamble paid off. The classes are packed, the franchise is flourishing and he’s planning to expand in Texas.