Main street shopping districts in Boston suburbs like Brockton struggled to stay afloat during COVID, aided by work-from-home residents patronizing local establishments. Now they’re looking to apply the lessons of the pandemic to grow and thrive. Photo by George Durante | Courtesy photo

The pandemic is not over yet. A sizable portion of the state’s population has yet to be fully immunized. Many customers are still reluctant to dine out or shop. COVID-19 operating and capacity restrictions are still in place. 

Still, retail shop owners and restaurateurs in small downtowns across Massachusetts are starting to eye a post-pandemic future – and they’re hoping many of the successful emergency relief measures put in place to help them get through the COVID-19 crisis remain permanent features moving forward. 

Industry executives report that downtown business groups in communities including Andover, Malden and Wellesley have begun lobbying local and state leaders to keep pandemic-era measures such as expanded outdoor dining, looser alcohol consumption rules, free parking, small-business grants and other items implemented during the pandemic. 

In addition, some are also hoping for more streamlined permitting processes so that many stores and restaurant spaces that were vacated during the pandemic can be quickly built-out for future new tenants. 

The bottom line, according to business leaders, is that small downtown merchants fared better during the pandemic than many had expected – and they want to take all the hard-learned lessons and apply them to a still uncertain future. 

“We definitely need a rethinking of how we do things,” said Greg Reibman, president of the Newton-Needham Chamber of Commerce. “People are going to be still struggling for a while [after the pandemic]. I anticipate a push on Beacon Hill and elsewhere to make some permanent changes.” 

Entrepreneurial Mindset Reawakened 

“We still have a lot of work to do,” said Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts. “We need to rekindle the entrepreneurial spirit of Main Street moving forward, not just during the pandemic.” 

Even before the COVID-19 crisis, brick-and-mortar merchants in smaller downtowns were struggling amid fierce competition from e-commerce retailers. So, when the pandemic hit, along with all its social-distancing restrictions, many thought local retailers and restaurateurs were doomed. 

But a funny thing happened on the way to Doomsday. Many merchants, though certainly not all, actually thrived despite the hardships. And, if they didn’t exactly thrive, they did better than expected. 

Some attribute their survival mostly to massive government funding, such as the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program small business loan program. 

But community merchants say widespread remote working – with many people staying at home during much of the pandemic – also helped local downtown shops and restaurants. 

“Local customers remained loyal,” said Remon Karian, owner of two full-service Fiorella’s Cucina restaurants in Concord and Newton and three fast-takeout Fiorella’s Express eateries in Belmont, Wellesley and Brighton’s Oak Square. 

“Our lunch business took a big hit because people really don’t go out for lunches when they’re at home, but our dinner business did OK,” he said of his new remote-working customer base. 

Remote Workers, Future Shoppers? 

And if remote working is here to stay, then it’s key to keep attracting those home-bound customers to local shops and restaurants, Karian and other industry officials say. 

Officials note that other pandemic emergency measures – including expanded outdoor dining, looser liquor laws, relaxed parking rules and expanded operational hours – also helped businesses, especially those located in smaller downtowns. 

“To me, the big story is that the pandemic wasn’t worse for small retailers and restaurant owners,” said Bob Elmer, co-managing principal at Lee & Assoc. in Boston. 

Commercial real estate firms traditionally don’t track retail activity in smaller downtown environments, focusing instead on larger enclosed shopping malls, strip malls and other properties with large retail and restaurant tenants. 

Still, Lee & Assoc. data shows that year-over-year net retail absorption was down 200,000 square feet in Greater Boston, as of early April – with vacancy rates in the single digits in most submarkets. Meanwhile, retails rents were down about 4 percent.  

Those aren’t welcome numbers for the industry, but they’re also not wipeout numbers either, Elmer said. 

“The retail industry definitely took a hit, but it wasn’t as bad as feared,” he said, noting suburban retail businesses generally performed better than city-based retailers. 

Elmer said his impression is that smaller downtowns outside the city of Boston performed surprisingly well.  

“People clearly wanted to support their local businesses,” Elmer said.  

Business advocates say pandemic-era programs like expanded outdoor dining must continue post-COVID to draw more foot traffic to town centers and help local retailers succeed.

A Life-and-Death Struggle for Many 

Jeff Arsenault, who oversees the retail brokerage practice at Avison Young, agreed that small downtowns performed well during the pandemic for a combination of reasons: government financial assistance, emergency rule changes and the remote-worker phenomenon. 

Smaller retailers and restaurateurs also showed amazing adaptability during the crisis, such as expanding their online sales, increasing their takeout food businesses and introducing new product lines. 

“They had to find ways to adapt, and they did a pretty good job of it,” Arsenault said of small merchants. “For many small retailers, it was a life–and–death struggle, a very personal struggle, and they knew they couldn’t afford to fail.” 

Indeed, many small retailers and restaurateurs did fail. 

“It’s been really tough in some places,” said Reibman of the Newton-Needham chamber. 

Merchants in affluent Wellesley, which recently joined his chamber as a member, took some major hits, he said, particularly in the Wellesley Square area. 

“There are a lot of empty storefronts,” he said. “People were shocked to see it in Wellesley.”  

“We’re all just trying to hang on,” said Damian Wendrow, co-owner of Wellesley’s London Harness, a high-end specialty store. “We’re all just struggling to survive.” 

Government Help Needed 

Joel Kadis, chief real estate officer at Linear Retail Properties, said small downtowns near residential neighborhoods have tended to perform better than downtowns that previously relied heavily on business from workers in nearby office buildings and office parks thanks to those same remote workers. 

Kadis, whose firm owns 88 properties and more than 2 million square feet of mostly retail space in New England, said he’s cautiously optimistic the retail and restaurant sectors can rebound in coming months and years. But they’ll need continued help from local, state and federal governments, Kadis said. 

Kevin Duffy, the strategy and business development officer for the city of Malden, said his city has every intention of helping its small downtown businesses moving forward. The 18 restaurants that received emergency permission during the pandemic to conduct outdoor dining will be allowed to continue with the practice after the pandemic, he said. 

Malden is also taking steps to provide more free parking in city garages to help downtown merchants, he said. In addition, Malden is putting together a new downtown “summer events” program that will include weekend music, farmer’s markets, artist booths and exhibits, ping-pong tournaments and other activities, he said. 

“Our goal is to attract and drive customers to our downtown,” Duffy said.