IDG Insider Pro: After a year of Working from Home where are we going from here?. “In February 2020, we were just realizing we’d need to work from home for a while. We had no idea just how drastic the change would be. Now, a year in, thanks to the Coronavirus vaccines, we’re beginning to think about returning to the office. Or, are we?”
Route Fifty: Covid-Certified Businesses Try to Woo Leery Patrons. “At a time when officials in parts of the nation are facing backlash from business owners who have been hurt by covid restrictions, Mesa County [Colorado]’s 5-star program encourages them to partner with the local health department to promote the directives. Whether the approach boosts compliance with health directives remains to be seen. This largely rural county of 154,000 people on the Utah border is divided about covid protocols, with many still skeptical of wearing face coverings.”
Taunton Daily Gazette: Silver City Galleria fan says thanks for the memories with online mall archive. “If you’re a fan of the soon-to-be-demolished Silver City Galleria mall, you’re far from the only one. In fact, 29-year-old Bridgewater resident James Walsh felt so nostalgic about his time spent there that he’s created an online archive for the mall for Galleria-lovers like himself to enjoy.”
USA Today: ‘Better Business Bureau meets Consumer Reports’: Black Dollar Index ranks companies by support of Black America . “A group of Black professionals from health care, consumer packaged goods, media, finance, politics, and consulting came together in weekly zoom meetings during the social unrest last summer to volunteer their time building The Black Dollar Initiative. Soon, the Black Dollar Index was born. It weighs qualitative and quantitative factors to measure each company’s commitment to diversity and investments in causes important to Black Americans and score them from 0-100.”
BetaNews: The impact of COVID-19 on modern retailers. “The impact of COVID-19 and our new shopping behaviors have a profound effect on retailers. Changed buying experiences, falling and rising sales, and new consumer demands have defined an adverse year in retail. Here, we look at how customers and businesses have been affected by these changes.”
Grit Daily: Does Google’s Black-Owned Business Search Really Help Black Entrepreneurs? We Asked Them.. “Google first introduced the tool last summer, but is promoting it during Black history month as a reminder that the fight for racial equity is nowhere near over. You may notice it right now on Google’s home page, for example. Now, nearly a year later, we spoke with Black business owners from around the United States on how Google’s tool has impacted their business, as well as how they think major tech companies like Google can continue to help them in the future.”
CBC: Initiative to promote Black-owned businesses goes national with launch of new database. “The Torontonian creator of a website and social media account spotlighting local Black-owned businesses is taking her initiative across the country with the launch of an expanded online store and a national database she hopes will soon have hundreds of listings. Black Owned Canada debuted this week and its founder, Kerin John, is calling on business owners across the country to sign up to be featured.”
BBC: Coronavirus: Seafarers stuck at sea ‘a humanitarian crisis’. “More than 90% of global trade – from household goods to medical supplies – is moved by sea. But governments have banned crew from coming ashore amid Covid-19 fears. Large firms including shipping titan AP Moller-Maersk, oil firms BP and Shell, consumer giant Unilever and mining groups Rio Tinto and Vale, as well as maritime transporters, unions, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and other supply chain partners have signed the Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing and Crew Change.”
Neowin: Instagram combines business tools for creators and brands in a single hub. “Instagram announced today the launch of a new feature designed to help brands and creators grow their business and monitor how the’re faring on the platform. The new professional dashboard displays all these resources in a single place. The dashboard lets users keep track of their performance through insights and trends. Shop owners, for example, can see how their ads are performing.”
CNN: Godiva is closing or selling all of its stores in the United States. “Luxury chocolatier Godiva is getting out of the brick and mortar business. The company is closing or selling all 128 of its brick-and-mortar stores in North America, it announced in a statement. It plans to complete the closures and sales by the end of March.”
ABC7: Local online website designed to help Black-owned business expands nationwide. “Spicy Green Book started out showing businesses in Orange County, but now the website is a national online guide featuring 185 Black-owned businesses in 23 states including Ontario, Canada. And now, there’s an app to go along with it.”
The Guardian: ‘It’s been a rollercoaster’: how indie publishers survived – and thrived – in 2020. “Six months ago, independent publishers Jacaranda and Knights Of were warning publicly that their income had fallen to almost zero. They weren’t the only small publishers struggling. With bookshops and distributors closing, a survey from the Bookseller at the time found that almost 60% of small publishers feared closure by the autumn. No bookshops meant no knowledgeable, passionate booksellers pressing new books they loved on to customers; no events and no travel meant that crucial avenues for introducing new writers had disappeared.”
CNET: The coronavirus pandemic slashed new car sales by 15%, forecast says. “In the US, when adjusted for selling days, retail new-vehicle deliveries in December are expected to grow compared to the same month in 2019, topping 1.4 million units, a year-over-year increase of 1%. While hardly gangbusters, this is certainly good news given the current situation, however, when non-retail deliveries are factored in, sales are expected to post a year-over-year decline of around 5.1%, clocking in at around 1.6 million vehicles.”
MSNBC: Amazon and other corporations won the pandemic at the expense of everyone else. “In a year when millions of Americans are struggling to survive the Covid-19 pandemic, watching as their life savings have plummeted to zero and unemployment remains rampant, some of the biggest corporations have been absolutely thriving. If we’re going to ever end this neo-Gilded Age, we’re going to need to reckon with the utter immorality of that disconnect.”
Washington Post: At Trump’s New York hotel, the pandemic is hurting business — again. “In the White House, President Trump has sought to play down the threat posed by the coronavirus, saying this past weekend that the country is ’rounding the corner.’ But at Trump’s luxury hotel in Manhattan, executives told a much less hopeful story Monday. Ten months into the pandemic, Trump hotel executives told investors that resurgent caseloads were driving down their business again — snuffing out a brief uptick in the early fall.”
