It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Chicago shopping districts. But between supply chain problems, inflation and the shadow of a pandemic, the outlook for small retail and food businesses continues to be uncertain this holiday season.
Still, as we approach the close of a third year of the COVID pandemic, there are reasons to be optimistic for Chicago’s small business landscape, says Isabel Velez-Diez, director of economic recovery at the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection.
“We have seen 4,700 new businesses get new licenses since the beginning of … the pandemic,” said Velez-Diez. “We’ve also seen the license renewal stay at the same percentage as it was pre pandemic. So we are very hopeful, optimistic that things are looking up and things are getting slowly but surely back to normal.”
With that in mind, the city’s business-facing entities are shifting from addressing…
