BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — With the state of the economy local businesses have been closing and opening their doors in Kern County. But not all businesses are making it.
- Local businesses in Bakersfield, such as 'Simply Me Baby Me' and 'Sugar Daddy's Womans Boutique,' are closing due to economic pressures and inflation.
- The owner of Simply Me & Baby Me, Ryan Goldberg, cites competition with online shopping and changing consumer habits as significant factors.
- CSUB Economics Professor Dr. Aaron Hegde notes a nationwide trend of challenges for small businesses, including tight credit conditions.
- The economic downturn has created a difficult environment for local businesses to sustain operations.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Baby Me Simply Me opened in 2005. Ryan Goldberg, the owner, sells women's and baby's clothes.
The customers that come through the doors are what she'll always cherish.
"They are my neighborhood here and, I get to see them when they're pregnant, I get to see them when they have the baby, I get to see them, when the babies grow up."
As the pandemic hit, Goldbergs store was impacted with her having to compete with online shopping and a change in customers spending habits.
Goldberg explains her concerns, "People's perception of maybe what they are going to get or receive when they walk into a small business, our business is different than it used to be because they get that instant gratification when they are buying online."
As vendor prices have increased from previous years, another business, Sugar Daddy's Women's Boutique, has also been impacted and is deciding to close.
It too, is not able to keep up with the rise in vendor prices and overhead.
Shubin adds, "Vendors, all the brands that I carry, their cost all went up. I even dropped a few vendors because they tripled in their prices, and I thought there's no way."
CSUB Economics professor Dr. Aaron Hegde tells me that there's a trend nationwide impacting local businesses.
"One of the things we've noticed since 2018, it's been challenging for small businesses especially to get enough sales and then if they want to expand or cover some of the payroll and things, the credit situation has been tight," Hegde tells me.
With this year being a downturn cycle,
some businesses will leave and some will continue to stay depending on the consumer.
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