As COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on businesses disappear, this year’s Small Business Week will focus on how the virus has changed the way many companies — large and small — operate.
It was April 2020, and Justin Baccary, the owner of Station 26 Brewing, was prepared for a bloodbath. Like many other states, Colorado had forced its bars, breweries and restaurants to close in March to try and stem the rising rate of COVID-19 infections, and it was becoming clear to Baccary and others that what had once looked like a three-to-six-month nightmare was turning into an indefinite hell-scape for businesses of all kinds.
The Brewers Association trade group had just released the results of a sobering survey: nearly 12 percent of independent breweries nationwide said they would have to close by the end of the month if social distancing restrictions weren t lifted. Nearly 60 percent said they would be out of business by July. That would have translated to a stunning 4,500 breweries across the country and 250 beer makers in Colorado.