It has been a difficult year for many businesses and a tough year for the mouthpiece of American business, the Chamber of Commerce.
Clarion Chamber of Business and Industry Executive Director Tracy Becker serves as the treasurer for the Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce, and she said she has heard from other chambers across the country that they are not able to survive.
“A lot of chambers have to close their doors or merge. I think that is because many of them don’t do a lot of non-revenue activities,” Becker said.
But the coronavirus pandemic changed a lot of things.
“When the virus hit I knew we had to cut expenses in the office,” said Becker. “We didn’t run the air conditioner and we didn’t turn on all of the lights. If I got cold I put a sweater on. I did not like the fact that I had to lay my girls off. If we were to rely on just our membership dues and nothing else we would have an office of one.”
The restrictions placed on the chamber-sponsored Autumn Leaf Festival caused problems for the chamber.
“The money we make off of Autumn Leaf pays for half of our administrative cost for the year. That includes rent, water, gas, telephone, internet insurance and salaries,” said Becker. “With that taken away this year, I had to lay off our girls in the office. My hope is to bring them back but they have to do what is best for them.”
At this time there will a holiday event.
“Our Christmas event is not a moneymaker for us. It is an activity we do for the community,” she said. “Of course the parade will be out this year.”
Becker knows the future for many retailers is uncertain.
“I hope the businesses continue to hang on and things change. People are starting to come out more but, at the same time, spending less because they just don’t know what is coming down the road,” she said.
“We are also seeing shortages develop because manufacturers were shut down. At the local home manufacturers they have trouble getting doors and windows and you can’t build a house without doors and windows. I was told there is a backlog of 700 to 800 homes,” she said.
“I don’t think we are going to see a lot of what COVID has done to our country until late next year,” she said. “I think at that time you will see a lot of businesses that just can’t make it. People have started finding alternatives because they could not shop where they always shopped.”
Becker said “we will continue to find ways to help our members. A number of our members had questions about where to apply for funds. We provided that information on our website.”
“I think moving forward that everyone will be more cautious,” she said. “We can never take anything for granted again.”