Many small businesses in Chicago have closed in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. If they haven’t closed outright, they have often taken a hit to revenue since March. This has led to a combination of mass layoffs and financial fragility. Chicago’s unemployment rate climbed to 18.9% in April with 16.3 million people unemployed.

Many stores in the Lincoln Park area heavily depend on students from Francis W. Parker to bring in lots of business, such as Starbucks and Yoberri. 

Steve, a worker of five years at the Starbucks on Clark and Dickens said, “We have definitely seen a difference in how many customers are flowing in during the busiest times. A couple busy hours for us are around eight and two or three when a lot of students seem to be getting out.” Of course, students are just one part of the bigger picture. 

For customers going into Starbucks each day, the way business looks has changed tremendously since the coronavirus hit. “I think a huge part that has affected us is mostly everyone just coming in and out for their drink. Pre-coronavirus, all day there were plenty of people who would come in for a couple of hours and sip a drink or have a snack while studying, meeting with a friend, or taking a work call, but this isn’t really as great an option anymore,” said Steve. 

Steve is thankful for the location of the Starbucks. “During the summer, there’s always great business. There are people coming in and out constantly. It’s basically the perfect flow of business.” Yoberri is another store in the Lincoln Park area that typically gets a lot of student business. It has also been affected in ways that aren’t too threatening to Yoberri but definitely noticeable. 

Nina, who has been working at Yoberri for roughly two months, has yet to fully experience the full rush that the end of the school day brings with students from kindergarten to 12th grade. “I have actually talked about this with my coworkers before. During a regular school year, especially during the fall, we get a lot of traffic in here. And now that school isn’t happening, we can definitely feel the difference of how we have had to go to markets and really go out versus people coming in to us,” said Nina. 

Yoberri is one of many stores that have had to find alternate ways to bring business in during the pandemic. Usually, Yoberri’s busiest times are “right after school, right before sporting events or right after, and the end of the night around dinner time. Between family and students, that’s definitely the majority of our customers here,” said Nina. “The two big contingents tend to be school and weather.” When the high school makes up over one-third of Parker, high school students taking classes online makes a huge dent in the number of students going to stores around Lincoln Park. 

Loss of typical business is an issue all around Chicago right now. Senior Ellie Buono lives in Bucktown/Wicker Park. “In the last couple of years tons of both small and big business stores have opened around us. It was always very fun to walk around to all the shops and go to fun restaurants. Since the coronavirus, many stores throughout Damen and Milwaukee have closed,” said Buono. Issues will continue throughout Chicago. “The vibes on the street have really changed, and things seem pretty sad when you walk around,” said Buono. 

While there are plenty more people out now due to warm weather and looser restrictions, the overall feeling of being in public has shifted for months and will not return to normal soon.