Businesses derailed by last summer’s protest hopeful for return to normal

A year later, the streets appear back to normal, even if business is not. Plywood is gone and Reuben’s Deli and others have reopened. Hopeful economic signs and comments from business owners like Furgiuele suggest a rebound is underway, albeit slow and gradual. But they face lingering concerns about whether and when office workers that make up a key customer base will ever return.

While Furgiuele’s sales are almost back to normal, they have changed. Instead of lines of customers snaking out his front door, he now delivers at least half of what he sells. That is an added cost.

“Foot traffic here has not come back. But the attitude downtown now is positive and it feels good to be downtown again,” he said.

Many downtown small business owners share Furgiuele’s cautious optimism. They say it’s needed after the double whammy of the pandemic and the street violence that emerged from the protests.

Visitors are slowly returning, according to hospitality industry data provider STR. The occupancy rate for downtown, Midtown and Buckhead hotels rose from 9% in April 2020 to 47% in April 2021. That’s still low: the rate in April 2019 was 80%.

Conventions and trades shows, which are the lifeblood of much of downtown’s economy and nightlife, halted during the pandemic. They are beginning to return. Twenty large convention, which require at least 2,500 hotel rooms for their busiest nights, are scheduled between this month and the end of 2021, said William Pate, president of the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau. The group expects attendance in 2021 will be 70% to 80% of pre-pandemic levels.

Still, about half of downtown’s 300 restaurants have not reopened, said A.J. Robinson, president of Central Atlanta Progress, a downtown trade association. Restaurants reflect the activity of offices, tourists, conventioneers and students, Pate said.

City businesses wait for the return of the full complement of Georgia State University students, tourists attending sporting events and armies of desk-based workers who once packed its office towers. It’s unknown how many will return as they and companies rethink commutes, office space costs and working from home as the pandemic eases. Only time will tell.

Credit: Rebecca Wright

Credit: Rebecca Wright

For now, Terry Harps is focused on the last week of June when his downtown restaurant and concert venue, Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint, is set to reopen.

“We think, by the end of June, that enough people will have been vaccinated and the risk of infection will be pretty low,” he said.

Harps plans to start with a limited menu and restricted attendance.

He knows the musicians are available.

“I’ve been getting calls from all the acts that had performed for us and they’re ready to come back,” he said.

Harps said the city’s plan to widen sidewalks and make Peachtree Street more pedestrian-friendly would allow restaurants like his to add outdoor patio seating.

Finding workers has been difficult for Harps, as it has for many businesses in service and labor industries. Some former staff continue to receive unemployment checks, “so there’s not a big incentive yet to come back to work,” he said.

Besides regular unemployment benefits, recipients also receive an extra $300 in federal weekly jobless payments. The federal supplements are scheduled to end in Georgia on June 26.

Some downtown organizations remained active during the pandemic, but found new ways to operate. The Theatrical Outfit on Luckie Street staged only virtual performances during the pandemic.

The theater group plans its first live show, “Fires in the Mirror,” on June 11. The audience will be limited to 20 guests and will be invitation-only. The show will also be live-streamed.

Managing director Gretchen Butler hopes the live performance will help patrons gradually return to the theater. Business is down at least 90% compared to 2019, Butler said.

“Some patrons have said to me that digital is not for them but when we have live performances again, they will be here,” she said. “I respect that point of view.”

Kent Matlock is a business owner who holds the key to a full return to normal. He has not decided how or when to require his staff to come back to the office. Employees at his downtown advertising agency have worked from home throughout the pandemic.

“They’ve been productive and I haven’t lost much of anything,” he said.

While the Matlock agency has continued to work for a stable of regular clients, there’s still something missing, he said. Matlock recently began holding two Zoom calls a week, just to make sure workers keep talking to each other.

Downtown may regain some of its vibrancy when Georgia State students return to in-person leaning, he said. Office workers need that kind of personal interaction, too.

“We’ve learned that our people can work remotely,” he said. “But nothing is as meaningful as face-to-face contact.”