Yelp Economic Average Uncovers a Drop in Total Business Closures and a Rise in Permanent Closures During the Second Quarter - Seite 4

Within restaurants, German cuisine, live and raw food, French cuisine and steakhouses have all seen an increase in consumer interest since June 1, relative to other restaurant categories, up 35%, 36%, 21% and 20%, respectively. As people head back into restaurants, fast casual and common delivery foods continue to decline at a slow rate, including fast food (down 19%), cheesesteaks (down 8%), chicken wings (down 15%) and pizza (down 7%).

As the weather gets warmer people are turning to public markets (up 73%) to do their shopping, as well as flea markets (up 28%) and outlet stores (up 13%). Formal wear (up 46%) and bridal shops (up 26%) continue to slowly increase as people feel more comfortable gathering for celebrations. Meanwhile, previous retail categories that gained traction, including hunting and fishing supplies, and outdoor gear, are starting to decline in consumer interest, down 40% and 29%. Yelp data also shows people heading back indoors for activities like axe throwing (up 51%), escape games (up 45%), and boxing (up 13%), while some people continue to flock to outdoor activities, like ziplining (up 44%), ATV rentals (up 37%), and amusement parks (up 6%).

We also see the impact of rising COVID-19 cases on health and wellness categories on Yelp, with a recent spike in interest for urgent care (up 42%) and emergency rooms (up 21%), since June 1, while interest declined in skilled nursing (down 22%) and retirement homes (down 14%).

Support for Black-Owned Businesses Remains High

People’s interest in supporting the Black community by spending at Black-owned businesses continues to remain high. From May 25 to July 10, there has been a 7,043% year-over-year increase in searches for Black-owned businesses on Yelp — in total, 2,500,000 searches. Washington D.C. and Maryland both had more than 1% of all searches on Yelp for “Black-owned” since May 25th, a 39% increase in Maryland and a 24% increase in Washington D.C. year-over-year.

While searches for Black-owned restaurants have remained particularly popular (up 2,508%), most recently, people have also been searching for more specific Black-owned businesses. Searches for Black-owned boutiques have increased by 331% compared to the same time last year, while searches for Black-owned bakeries and ice cream shops has grown by 56%. Searches for Black doctors rose by 183% and Black-owned coffee shops has increased by 161%. Black-owned bookstores have seen a particularly high increase in consumer interest, with searches up 1,437% year-over-year, as people look to find resources from Black authors, possibly to better educate themselves on anti-Black racism, police brutality and other social justice issues that have plagued the Black community.