I think a lot of 'em are just very scared.

We have to do it. It's something that we must do because we

really just can't close.

The coronavirus Pandemic is putting America's 30 million

small businesses to the test.

From nail salons, to grocers, to restaurants.

They're all facing an existential threat.

Every day I wake up and I keep my fingers crossed that this

will end. I don't know what our future holds.

I don't really want to think about it.

A month of what some experts compared to a power blackout

has nearly halved economic activity.

One additional month could lead to the permanent loss of

one fourth of all U.S.

business establishments, equaling four trillion dollars in

revenue. For New York City, the Independent Budget Office

estimates that the virus could cost the city nearly 10

billion dollars in lost tax revenue.

That could be catastrophic for the cities and the entire

country's small businesses, who are the main drivers of

employment, innovation and growth.

The COVID-19 situation has really been hammering our small

businesses across the country.

But there are a number of businesses that haven't had to

shut their doors. Grocery stores need food, pharmacies need

drugs. Your Internet has to continue to work.

The water has to turn on when you turn the faucet.

Essential businesses are fortunate to stay open when most

can't. Most of our staff members are happy to have a job.

I mean, we're thankful for that, of course.

But then the second thing kicks in.

It's like all of us have families and our safety comes, you

know, as if not more important than a paycheck.

Keeping your doors open during a pandemic is anything but

straightforward, especially for small businesses.

It doesn't help that the 349 billion dollar loan program

for small businesses ran out in merely two weeks.

It remains to be seen that the new 484 billion dollar

relief package will get into the hands of those most in

need. This is probably the biggest leadership challenge any

small business person has ever faced.

When the orders come over next door to our restaurant, we're

the ones accepting them and putting them away and doing all

the work because we don't have a lot of staff.

Also, because we don't have a lot of orders.

We don't have a lot of money to pay the staff.

So it's just all kind of falling on to us.

If it last a few months like this, it's going to be very

difficult, it's going to be extremely difficult. It'll be

years before we fully understand the economic impact of the

coronavirus. While the lockdown continues, essential small

businesses in New York City, the epicenter of the pandemic,

are barely holding on.

The coronavirus, or the COVID-19 disease, has turned the

world upside down, nearly every state governor has ordered

businesses to temporarily shut down and residents to stay

home. This is not life as usual and accept it and realize

it and deal with it. More than 50,000 major retailers and

restaurants, and about 54 percent of America's 30.

2 million small businesses, were deemed non-essential and

told to close.

Though some states are cautiously considering reopening

parts of their economies.

The country is far from returning back to normal.

I had a gut feeling that things were going to change a

little bit. I actually spoke to a couple of my managers I

was telling them to stock up a little bit more on a dry good

that I thought there might be some kind of panic, but to be

quite very honest with you, not in my wildest dream I

thought it would go to this level.

What makes a business essential varies a bit depending on

the state. For example, in Arizona, golf courses are still

open. In Pennsylvania, medical marijuana dispensaries are

essential, but liquor stores are not.

And in Alabama, gun stores are considered too important to

be shut down. All states agree though, that grocery stores,

pharmacies and gas stations are absolutely necessary.

You kind of feel, you have to serve the country that it's

been good to you. You have to serve the neighbors that

have been good to you all these year.

So it comes in with that kind of sense of responsibility

that keeps me going.

I mean, I have been working now for almost 30 days

straight. I haven't taken a day off.

Mo Issa is the owner of Brooklyn Fair, a chain of three

grocery stores and a three Michelin starred restaurant

under the same name. Most three stores are considered

essential, as is his restaurant, but only for deliveries

and takeout, something for which his fine dining

establishment wasn't equipped.

It's something I take a lot of pride in and we had to close

it down, and I had to lay off quite a few people that

worked at the restaurant.

It's pretty sad.

It's usually very busy and beautiful but now it's

completely shut down. New York City, like the rest of the

country, is made up of small businesses.

98 percent of the more than 220,000 businesses employ less

than 100 people.

But during a crisis, being small comes with a host of

challenges. For example, large retailers like Wegmans or

Whole Foods have dedicated crisis management teams and

generally run on larger profit margins.

I'm a one man show kind of, basically I do it all.

So the challenge for a small guy like myself to do it and

do it right. It's extremely hard because of the resource.

I don't have the same deep pockets as they do.

Mo has increased his workers hourly wage from $15 to $17.

Still, he says he spends most of his days convincing

worried employees to come to work.

He's running three sizable grocery stores that he says

gross about 42 million dollars a year on nearly half of the

regular staff. It's about 6:15 in the morning, 6:20 going

to pick up the food from 37th street to take it to the

Brooklyn store because we had to close the kitchen in

Brooklyn store because we're short on employees.

The stores are doing more business volume wise, dollar wise

head counts has dropped a lot.

Before we were like at 250 to over 260.

Now we're running three stores like in about 150, 145.

It depends from day to day.

I lose two, three come back and every morning I just got to

deal with it. It's like whose coming, who's not coming?

If a McDonald's goes from having 40 workers to 36 workers,

well, it stays open.

If you run a small restaurant and you have eight workers

and you go to five or six workers, you might have a tough

time. Not too far from Mo's downtown Brooklyn store,

Leslie and Matt own a coffee shop and a burger restaurant.

This is not their first crisis.

A fire at the coffee shop in 2014 set them back for years.

But this pandemic is different.

After nearly all twelve employees said they were too scared

to work. They shut down the cafe.

We were open for the staff so that they could all get paid

and have a purpose and keep doing what they loved to do.

But when people started showing up it just didn't make

sense anymore to stay open.

This is our tiny kitchen.

We're just cranking out burgers, fries...

The couple estimate revenue to be around 40,000 for the

month of April, but 30 percent has to go to third party

delivery companies like Caviar and Uber Eats.

And with 30,000 in expenses between the two shops, they're

unlikely to break even.

It's extremely strenuous.

Bills don't go on pause.

Jonathan Goldstein and his brother are third generation

owners of Park Avenue Liquor Shop.

The store is nestled between bustling Grand Central and

Bryant Park. With no commercial business and nearly no foot

traffic. The business is down 75 to 80 percent.

They had to lay off more than half of the staff.

I don't think people want to be in midtown or in a crowded

part of the city. So we're missing that part of the

business. We're missing corporate business.

There are no parties, there are no staff meetings.

There's no after hours.

Let's say we have a good, four to six weeks before we have

to seriously look at the books and say if it's worthwhile.

Changes in spending habits is one of the most immediate

effects of the pandemic.

Spending in every category available has decreased except

for alcohol and groceries.

Not surprisingly, online sales have skyrocketed.

Mo's stores have had a similar trajectory.

He says the three stores used to earn 5,000 to 6,000

dollars a week. Today, they're generating nearly $200,000

in online sales. We're keeping people like almost up to 1

o'clock in the morning just filling in orders.

Some of them come in at 5:00 in the morning and we're doing

the best we can. We used to do it within a 24 hour window.

Now we expand the window like almost six days and we kind

of run it almost six days behind.

As we've reported before, the U.S.

is unlikely to run out of food.

But as the virus continues to spread to workers and

processing plants, warehouses and grocery stores, so have

concerns over the impact on the supply chain.

This could especially impact small, essential businesses.

When you have scarce resources and you have scarce time and

you're trying to set up priorities.

Having a large grocery store supplied, that can serve a lot

of people, maybe that's more important.

We are getting about 20 percent to 30 percent sometimes of

the orders that we order. Sometimes it just doesn't show up

because it's not like they don't want to do it.

They just don't have it. Plus, my suppliers' having the

same issue with labor as me.

Being small and essential also means you're at the shop

more. Mo, Leslie and Matt, and Jonathan spend their entire

days in their stores along with their frontline employees.

That goes a long way when you're dealing with a public

health crisis that's extremely contagious.

We've been driving one of our employees back and forth from

work every day because we don't want him on the trains and

we know that he needs to work.

I go to every store, every single day, six days a week, all

the time. I know their names.

I know their family.

I know their pain. I know what they're going through.

All businesses have shut their doors, but the bills are

still piling up. The Small Business Administration

launching a program.

In late March 2020, the government responded to the economic

havoc brought on by the coronavirus with the biggest relief

package in history. Three hundred and forty nine billion of

the 2 trillion is dedicated to small businesses.

That can be the saving grace for the many small, essential

and non-essential businesses who are holding on by a

thread. According to a survey by the National Federation of

Independent Business, as of April 9th, 2020, 70 percent of

small businesses had applied for help.

Numbers we're seeing are dramatic.

We are processing billions of dollars of loans an hour and

we are receiving and approving thousands and thousands of

applications a day.

The four temporary programs are meant to help small

businesses cover payroll and other expenses during the

pandemic. According to Bulger, lenders are supposed to

release the money within 10 days of government approval.

However, in New York City, as well as in many other

regions, relief has been lagging.

On the early morning of April 3rd, the first day of

applications. Leslie and Matt stayed up late to make sure

they would be ahead of the curve.

Waiting, waiting, waiting, 12:30 and we were like, this is

not happening. And then Friday, our banker reached out

again and said, no Friday they said we're not ready.

Monday we're going to have the forms ready so you guys can