Igy you should know by now that the economy has nothing to do with equity prices. Although, that could change.
As where you are, here in Mpls small businesses have been decimated. Around us, it is/was all fancy overpriced independents, until Lululemon moved in. And all the independents were big libs, some huge donors. We have had all the bigshots come through, including Obama and Hilary, especially to Dayton/Rockefeller’s restaurant, now closed.
Independent women’s clothing, indep shoe place, etc are all toughing it out, and we support them. They are making an effing heroic effort, and getting no breaks on rent. Dayton’s indep clothing place is open but very thin; also high-end gay Monocle-type place continues on, their clientele is city-wide and “floats above”. We helped them out of their tiny place 15 years ago, now they are a big thing. NFL wife’s clothing boutique project is still open because it is well-capitalized, but at some point everything gets old. We’ll see.
We have a big indoor skyway system that has been decimated. It is a ghost town, with only a few crappy chains remaining like Jimmy John’s, etc
The sole high-end restaurant left down here soldiers on, but it’s tough going. The proprietor is a good friend of our neighbor, I will have to ask how they are faring.
The previously hip area—bars, North Farce, Apple store, etc has been decimated. All boarded up, and all gone. Totally decimated. Reminds me of Detroit in the 80’s—and it is adjacent to some expensive lake areas.
Remaining demand has migrated online for many things. Stuff is still here, but spread out. The huge complex in which we have an art studio has been essentially emptied, it used to be the biggest distributed independent studio art crawl in the country. Ended by Covid policy, studios vacated everywhere, becoming a ghost town. I have a feeling that the semi-new owners will try to convert it to condos over time, although their bread-and-butter is to develop funded art projects.
As for me, I have no more IP inquiries to turn down—everynody has turned their attention to other things. If I needed the business, I would be screwed. My wife’s employer is its best ever, they work exclusively on gov contracts.