Coronavirus closed nonessential stores across the state, but now retailers can start to reopen. The return to in-person sales could be the start of a rebound for the struggling sector — and more jobs for unemployed residents.
Business Watch
Covering the intersection of business and policy, and informing Michigan employers and workers on the long road back from coronavirus. Our Michigan Economic Dashboard shows key metrics that show how the state is performing.
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‘Unusual situation’ pushes 50-year bookstore owner to make survival decisions
Some of Michigan’s retailers will still wait weeks to reopen, as they align staffing, their finances and how they’ll follow state guidelines. This is one story among them, as the owner of Curious and Archives in East Lansing grapples with coronavirus impacts.
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Q&A with Rich Studley: Michigan hurt by ‘arbitrary’ coronavirus shutdown
“Are we heading toward another lost decade?” CEO Rich Studley recently tweeted.
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Michigan stores are reopening. Masks are required. Who’ll enforce it?
The state’s retailers can reopen by following coronavirus safety guidelines, but that may cause new problems. Now they’re caught between customers who won’t wear masks – and those who expect it.
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Coronavirus air travel: a postcard from a Michigan to Tampa-bound plane
As Michigan creeps toward re-opening, Bridge Business Editor Paula Gardner shares what it’s like at Detroit Metro Airport and on a crowded airplane.
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Michigan travel industry feels ‘pressures in all directions’
Tourism drives billions of dollars into the state’s economy. Now, after months of coronavirus shut-downs, it’s starting summer without answers on when it can attempt to do that again.
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Northern Michigan stores scramble to greet tourists. Well, some stores.
Not everyone in Traverse City and other coastal vacation hubs are geeked at the arrival of tourists on Memorial Day weekend, days after Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer lifted restrictions on northern Michigan businesses.
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6 lessons Michigan restaurants and bars can learn from Florida's reopening
Some Michigan restaurants can reopen this weekend, but COVID-19 is still changing the industry. These lessons from Florida, which reopened dining room access earlier this month, offer insight into how the new rules are reshaping business.
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Coronavirus has spared the Keweenaw Peninsula but may kill summer tourism
Untouched until now by COVID-19, this Upper Peninsula tourist haven needs thousands of downstate visitors to keep its economy alive. The opening of restaurants and bars may not be enough to save many of its businesses.
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Over 1.7 million applicants push Michigan unemployment system to the brink
State legislators got their first look at overall jobless claims Wednesday after two months of coronavirus layoffs. Eight percent of applicants still await payments.