As the coronavirus pandemic has triggered shutdowns and restrictions across the state, a staggering number of small businesses in Massachusetts have closed their doors amid plummeting revenues, according to Harvard researchers.
The number of Bay State small businesses that are open has dropped by 37% since the start of the year, the researchers at Opportunity Insights estimate on their Economic Tracker.
Total small business revenue has nosedived by 44% compared to January.
“Massachusetts is seeing the same sort of national pattern with the economic crisis hitting smaller businesses particularly hard,” Sebi Devlin-Foltz, on the Opportunity Insights’ policy team, told the Herald on Monday.
“Most people are staying home and not spending as much,” said Devlin-Foltz, adding, “There has been a lot of spending for online retailers. That’s going through the roof.”
Certain small businesses have been more hard hit than others, including restaurants.
While the total number of open small