Coronavirus Economy: 'Emergency Money' Dwindling Fast For Business Owners With No Revenue Coming In
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- For many business owners in the state, no timeline means the road to economic recovery is long and keeps getting longer. South Street on a spring Friday afternoon is normally bustling with students and folks strolling around during happy hour.
Instead, the sidewalks are empty and the gates on stores are down as state and local leaders work to reopen businesses safely.
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Shop owners are describing what life has been like without their livelihood. Chris Cahill opened Barbership Denim on South Street five years ago.
"Right now, we really miss the clients coming in and the personalities and the characters and stuff," Cahill said.
The shop, which is located between 15th and 16th Streets, has five employees and three stylist chairs.
The past five weeks have been anything but easy for the Northwest Philly native.
He and dozens of business owners had to temporarily close up shop due to COVID-19.
"Financially, you don't realize it until you're not working how quickly you have emergency money and what not and it dwindles fast because no revenue is coming in," Cahill said.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump presented his three phase plan called "Opening Up America Again" on a call with the nation's governors.
However, he said it's ultimately up to governors on how to proceed.
With nearly 30,000 COVID-19 cases about about 900 deaths in Pennsylvania, both Gov. Tom Wolf and Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said safety is the priority.
The governors of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and New York are working together to eventually reopen in phases.
Wolf says his administration will work with economic and public health experts to determine when it's safe to reopen, after the commonwealth's unemployment rate climbed last month to its highest point since 2014.
Cahill says he's ready to get his employees back to work.
"We can follow whatever mandate as far as if we had to wear a mask and the client wear a mask, we could definitely perform the services, obviously not a shave, but we can definitely get these haircuts and do it properly," Cahill said. "Whatever they need us to do."
Cahill is also an artist and is auctioning his artwork to raise money to pay his bills and his employees. Click here for a link to his online auction.
