STATE WIDE–Some businesses in Indiana are figuring out either how to make the pandemic work in their favor, or how to deal with the business environment that has been created by the circumstance of the coronavirus pandemic.
Gerry Dick, with Inside Indiana Business, on Tony Katz and the Morning News, cited Do It Best Hardware, which is based in Ft. Wayne.
“They have seen a 50 to 150 percent increase in business during the pandemic. They sold 40 years worth of hand sanitizer in a period of about three months,” he said. “They had in place a business continuation plan and a supply strategy that’s done them pretty well here.”
But, Dick pointed out that there is still a lot of uncertainty, especially for manufacturers.
“These companies, big companies like Cummins and these auto makers, had to implement social distancing and all these kinds of things they’re doing on the plant floor,” said Dick. “How’s that going to affect business? How’s consumer demand? Is that going to come back?”
He said those questions cannot be answered simply, or perhaps not in the near future.
But, Dick said U.S. manufacturing may benefit from a return for a lot of manufacturing with sentiment that our manufacturing shouldn’t be done overseas.
Still, some businesses are in obvious bad shape. Restaurants and the convention business are still struggling, even with the measured re-opening in the state.
“Some have begun to come back in a measured way. But, there are gonna be a lot more business failures, restaurant failures, that we’re gonna see unfortunately, once thing get back up to full operation.”
Dick said most business operators and owners that he’s talked to are anxious to get back to full operation and make money.
