NEW YORK — In many downtown areas where companies closed their offices and commuting ground to a halt, sandwich shops, bakeries and other small businesses are waiting with guarded optimism for their customers to return.
Teresa Ging could count on a steady stream of office workers coming to Sugar Bliss Bakery for muffins and cupcakes before COVID-19. They all but disappeared when the Loop, Chicago’s downtown area, became deserted amid government stay-at-home orders.
In March, a local business group, the Chicago Loop Alliance, found in a survey that a year into the pandemic the number of people coming downtown for work was still below 20% of normal. But Ging is optimistic; some of her regular customers have returned to their office one or two days a week.