PHOENIX – Local businesses impacted by COVID-19 call the Phoenix Suns’ playoff run a shining light emerging from the dark tunnel of a pandemic.
Willie’s Taco Joint, which sits between Phoenix Suns Arena and Chase Field, has weathered recent economic challenges in part because its landlords, the Diamondbacks and Suns, paid half its rent during the worst parts of the pandemic, owner Eric Stoltz said. Now the restaurant is receiving a boost from a team that started playing in the postseason May 23 and will host the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 5 of the NBA Finals Saturday night.
“It was going really well, and then of course last year we had the pandemic which was absolutely brutal but we got through it. And now this year it’s starting to go really well again,” Stoltz said about the restaurant that opened in December of 2016.