While it may seem like business is back to normal in San Francisco, with shops open and restaurants once again offering indoor dining, some of the Mission\u2019s Latino-owned businesses have never stopped struggling since the March 2020 shutdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMonetarily it\u2019s been terrible, most of my clientele are gone…I\u2019m living off my savings,\u201d said Einstein Paredes, who owns Latin American Barbershop, located on 24th Street, with his business partner Jonathan Hernandez. \u201cAll I\u2019m doing is paying off my bills.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paredes and Hernandez spent $40,000 to open his barbershop in March 2021, but have worked as barbers at other shops for years. Compared to 2019, Paredes\u2019 has 75 percent fewer clients, dropping from 100 clients a week down to roughly 25. Many of his former customers have moved, according to Paredes, either to different neighborhoods or out of the city, and now Paredes nearly breaks even between the cost of signage, hair products, and rent. Paredes even recently classified his business as a Limited Liability Corporation to avoid financial ruin if his shop goes under.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI had a client who moved to the Marina, he\u2019s not going to come to the Mission for a haircut, he\u2019s getting one somewhere else, haircuts are a dime a dozen now,\u201d Paredes said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paredes is hardly alone in having fewer customers due to COVID. Francisco De La Torre, owner of Regalito Rosticeria on 18th Street, said that running his restaurant continues to be difficult due to mandated socially distanced seating. Even with outdoor seating in parklets, seating has effectively reduced by one third, a significant handicap in an industry which was operating on razor-thin margins even before the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt has changed 90 percent of the business…economically there\u2019s no business around, even now, there\u2019s not that much. It\u2019s going to take a little bit to come back to normal,\u201d De La Torre said. \u201cCapacity inside used to be 50, now we\u2019ve turned it into 20 people inside, and we have a patio outside…I have 12 seats [there] right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the face of dire financial straits during the pandemic\u2019s darkest days, many business owners in the Mission sought financial aid during the pandemic, but some faced roadblocks in getting relief including language barriers and dealing with the bureaucratic crawl of the Small Business Administration during the roll-out of the Payroll Protection Program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ariel Balam, owner of Mayan restaurant Mi Yucatan on Mission Street, faced substantial barriers with getting financial aid both at the local and federal level, needing assistance with the application process due to his limited English skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Balam secured a $15,000 grant after applying six times, but was unable to secure a PPP loan due to delays from the SBA in processing his application. Despite being eligible for a $130,000 forgivable loan, Balam never saw a penny, as the program had run out of funds by the time their application was reviewed. Balam has still not received updates on his application, and when he tries to log in to review his application, nothing shows up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Erick Arguello, president of the council at Calle24, has helped small businesses near 24th Street and the surrounding area between 22nd and Cesar Chavez Streets apply for aid during the pandemic. Arguello said that many owners of businesses in the Cultural District have a fundamental lack of trust in the government and other large institutions such as banks, which has made it harder for them to qualify for and accept financial assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s cash, under the table, and a lot of the time with these loans, everything needs to be documented…It\u2019s like, \u2018are they going to shut me down because I pay my employees cash?\u2019\u201d Arguello said. \u201cIt\u2019s also big government\u2026.they come from countries where the government has not been helpful to them, so they come here not trusting this government, especially with the Donald Trump era and anti-immigrant rhetoric. It all adds up to \u2018keep your head down, just work hard, don\u2019t be seen, and try to survive.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adding to the struggles faced by business recently is pervasive inflation that has driven the cost of business up, making everything from hair gel to food more expensive, with business owners having to transfer that cost to customers. At Mi Yucatan, popular dishes such as Poc Chuc and Panucho have risen from $3.50 and $15 respectively to $5.50 and $18, which has frustrated some of their customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA lot of people who come in think that we\u2019re taking advantage of people, but we\u2019re not, we\u2019re just trying to make ends meet. We would have to buy meat that\u2019s, like, $30 per pound and then try to make profits out of that,\u201d said Balam through a translator. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even as businesses try to survive the ongoing impacts of COVID, the new Omicron COVID-19 variant has driven concerns of a potential second shutdown among some of the Mission\u2019s business owners, an existential threat to those already on the precipice of closure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey\u2019re saying not to worry about [Omicron], but I am worried about it…if the city or the state is going to close, I guess we\u2019ll cross that bridge when we get to it,\u201d Paredes said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Omicron variant has been a worrying sign for many that the pandemic may be here to stay for quite a while. As San Franciscans settle into this new normal, some business owners are left wondering if the pandemic has caused their customers to change their habits, with those who can afford to go out to eat or get a haircut continuing to work remotely, in turn becoming less focused going out into the community for errands and leisure, instead having their needs delivered to their doorstep or even decoupling from the Mission altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople are at home, a lot of my clients are techies, they\u2019re either moving out or they\u2019re waiting to go back to the office,\u201d Paredes said. \u201cI think people are disconnected, in every way. We\u2019ve done the email blast, we\u2019ve called our clients…Two or three of my clients moved to LA, it\u2019s nicer, it\u2019s cooler, and I get it, you know? San Francisco is upside down, they see the homelessness, they what\u2019s going on in the city and they want to get out. I get it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While it may seem like business is back to normal in San Francisco, with shops open and restaurants once again offering indoor dining, some of the Mission\u2019s Latino-owned businesses have never stopped struggling since the March 2020 shutdown. \u201cMonetarily it\u2019s been terrible, most of my clientele are gone…I\u2019m living off my savings,\u201d said Einstein Paredes, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":50635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[19020,973],"coauthors":[18445],"class_list":["post-50634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-latino-businesses","tag-small-businesses","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n