Many small businesses still struggling five years after pandemic shutdowns

By Tori Apodaca

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    SACRAMENTO, California (KOVR/KMAX) — The impact of the pandemic is still being felt five years later for some small businesses in Sacramento.

It is why the owner of Strapping Store in Sacramento took to Instagram in an emotional plea announcing that they are having a 70% off warehouse sale on Thursday because they are struggling.

“I’m not trying to be a dramatic person,” said Susan Stewart in the Instagram video. “I love my business and I am fighting tooth and nail to keep it.”

The shelves of Strapping Store in Sacramento are not quite as stocked as they once were and the employees have been laid off, dropping from 17 at the start of the year to six.

“90% of my suppliers have sent me letters telling me we are going to see an increase in price because of all the tariffs we are seeing,” said Stewart.

Stewart has three gift shops and opened Licked Ice Cream within this past year, but she is worried how she will pay rent and her employees. She is most concerned for her midtown locations.

“I just live in the neighborhood so I walk a lot and try to do independent businesses as much as I can,” said Marie King who lives in Sacramento.

Many shoppers are not like King and have shifted their spending habits since the pandemic, taking their dollars online.

The Downtown Sacramento Partnership said across its 66 blocks, so far in 2025: 10 new businesses have opened, 6 have announced closures and 8 have signed leases. In 2024, 41 new small businesses opened and 20 closed.

Stewart’s stores are in Midtown and Oak Park, but many brick and mortars across Sacramento share in her struggle despite statistics showing the city is outpacing California 2 to 1 in the formation of small businesses.

“Treating a business like it is a customer or client of the city is an important cultural shift that still needs to be made in our community,” said president and CEO of the Greater Economic Council Barry Broome.

Broome said one of the biggest hurdles small businesses are facing is state regulations.

“Our labor laws are written for companies that would hire UAW, so they’re more written for companies like a Tesla or Amazon,” Broome said.

Broome said that locally, they need to make changes in permitting opportunities for businesses.

“I look at small business Saturday and I think wow, why do they only have one a year,” said King.

Sacramento’s overall economy may be growing, but some small businesses are facing big struggles and asking for the community’s help.

“Sometimes you have to choose between supporting a local small business and feeding your family and I totally get that,” said Stewart. “It’s a really hard time right now.”

There are other resources to help small businesses such as Sacramento’s U.S. Small Business Administration. It recommends businesses to start selling on Amazon and for online shoppers to filter their Amazon to shop local small businesses.

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