(Editor's note: This is the latest story in a special series on the ways Chicago's downtown has rebounded)
CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Last year was all about staying afloat for Teresa Ging.
With orders at an all time low, the owner of Sugar Bliss bakery on Wabash had to let go of most of her staff.
“It was literally just me baking, helping customers, everything from the middle of March until the beginning of August,” Ging said.
She was able to keep her doors open, and ovens on, thanks to several small business loans.
“I was fortunate to get the PPP loan both times,” Ging said. “I got several grants from the city. I got a DoorDash grant, and I received a Hennessy grant that helped, too.”
Related
Other small shops like Jugrnaut Chicago on Dearborn and Congress changed the way they did business entirely.
“We were open for two hours, three hours for curbside pickup during the thick of it,” said the clothing boutique’s co-owner, Roger Rodriguez. “We were also shipping stuff, so that kind of kept us afloat.”
A tracker put together by researchers at Harvard and Brown Universities found small business revenue in Chicago dropped nearly 48 percent in the last year.
Related
Now that Chicago is fully reopened, small businesses are slowly starting to rebuild.
Ging told WBBM Newsradio she’s starting to see more corporate orders as people return to the workplace. She said she was able to bring back about 30 percent of her Sugar Bliss staff.
“There’s about four or five of us now," she said.
Related
Meantime, Jugrnaut is starting to see more foot traffic.
“As soon as the regulations started getting lifted, people just started showing up more, and then we did really well and then now things are leveling out,” Rodgiguez said.
Both stores said it will likely be years before they’re back to doing 100 percent of pre-pandemic business.
Related
