By Chris Reber

The pandemic has forced people to temporarily change habits when it comes to spending. But for small businesses, those temporary changes are having permanent consequences.

It’s cruel that the virus thrives in the places where we gather and spend meaningful time together. To make things worse, we spend more of our time and money online, which hurts our local economy and community even more.

There’s heartbreaking news every day about theaters and live music venues in particular, and bars that don’t serve food, but still are an important part of a community.

Even if you don’t think bars are essential, their employees are our neighbors and friends, and they have lost more than most people during the pandemic.

Virtual concerts and happy hours are a nice way to temporarily gather with friends during the pandemic. But they’re no replacement for the real thing.

I was reminded of the seriousness of the problem while recently listening to a podcast called Planet Money. They talked about economists who said that after the initial shock of the pandemic, the stock market and economy seem to be rebounding. But those economists also said that people are spending differently, more on stuff, and less on services from small businesses in their communities.

Obviously, some of the lost revenue for local small businesses is due to restrictions. But there are also many people who just aren’t ready to crowd restaurants like they did before the pandemic.

I am not here to have an argument about the restrictions. Pretty much every state restricts dining in some way. In Pennsylvania, the debate was endless, and it’s now reaching the highest courts in the country.

Restaurants have certainly impressed in their handling of those restrictions. There are some amazing ideas at the local level. Businesses have made it easier to get takeout. Some have shifted to produce things wholesale. While that shows great resilience, I doubt that many of these businesses set out to be primarily takeout when they started.

Over the summer, people embraced outdoor dining. In some cases it actually offered advantages over indoor dining, but few businesses could rely on it as a replacement for their indoor tables.

Unfortunately the summer is over. It’s back to limited indoor dining. And it’s unlikely that restaurant capacity will increase with the state and region.

More government spending to stimulate the economy is not a partisan issue. In Washington, the debate is over how much gets spent and who gets it.

There is no doubt that the largest companies will get their share of the government funds, and it makes sense because they do employ the most people.

But small businesses are in a much more dangerous situation than large corporations which have been able to take their operations online. As that Planet Money episode pointed out, they also provide about half of all jobs nationwide, which makes their survival even more important.

Over the four decades I’ve been alive, Main Street has declined significantly. First it was big box retailers, then online stores. With some exceptions like Jim Thorpe’s Broadway, all that is left are services like restaurants, coffee shops and taverns.

More and more, the pandemic makes that steady decline feel like it is becoming a steep plummet.