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CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC: YOUR INSIGHT
Fed president: Recovery tied to business adaptability
‘Business as usual’ at Interior Fusion Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
Raphael Bostic tells JAXUSA members that major factors are how the country deals with the health crisis and if relief programs work.
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BY MARK BASCH CONTRIBUTING WRITER
JACKSONVILLE
Photo by Jason Pratt / Prattify
“I truly think we will come out of this stronger and go back to business similar to the way we did business before,” said Steve Jacobs, owner of office furniture store Interior Fusion at 8409 Baymeadows Road.
Office furniture store owner Steve Jacobs says customers, including churches, are keeping up with plans. BY SCOTT SAILER STAFF WRITER
Steve Jacobs, owner of office furniture store Interior Fusion, said the pandemic has not changed his business a lot, but realizes that could change. Jacobs said his business at 8409 Baymeadows Road is considered an essential service and did not close during COVID-19. “We have to stay open for people working from home who want to buy a desk or a chair to keep working,” he said.
Interior Fusion supplies office furniture primarily for commercial use, with only 5% of sales from walk-in traffic, which slowed from the coronavirus. “For us it’s been business as usual. I don’t know if it’s going to affect us a month or two later on the back end,” Jacobs said. Jacobs said Interior Fusion is working on large projects with churches and other clients that continued their work. He said those customers knew “this would be over sooner or later, so they had to continue to buy to keep up with their plans or fall behind the eight ball.” The company started with a staff of three, including Jacobs. “We all pitch in to do whatever it takes to get things done,” he said.
KEEPING CLOSE – FROM A DISTANCE On May 4, the state began a phased reopening of some businesses shut down to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The Daily Record is reporting on small businesses as they confront the challenges of social distancing and financial hardships brought on by the pandemic and its aftermath.
With the COVID-19 pandemic reaching a new phase of businesses reopening, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is focusing on three questions about the recovery. The first two concern how the country deals with the continuing public health crisis and how businesses go about the reopening, Bostic said May 20 during a webinar hosted by JAXUSA Bostic Partnership. “The third question is, really, to what extent is the relief working?” he said. Numerous government programs are providing financial help to unemployed people and businesses struggling to keep going during the pandemic. Bostic said if those programs are working as intended, companies will bring their employees back from furlough. “If we can do that, if we can make as many of those job losses temporary as possible, there’s a very good chance we could make this recovery happen in a robust way,” he said. Bostic said the Federal Reserve’s role is providing a bridge to get the economy through the crisis. “What we’ve tried to do is really be mindful that before the virus arrived, the fundamentals of this economy were quite
SEE JACOBS, PAGE 2
SEE BOSTIC, PAGE 2
Vacation rentals reopen in Duval Vacation rentals in Duval County, including Airbnb units, can reopen after state-mandated COVID-19 closures. Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation approved the city’s plan to reopen rentals May 20. “Tourism is a major part of our local and state economies,” Mayor Lenny Curry said in a statement. “By getting these businesses back up and running in a responsible way, we are helping employees and their families get back on their feet and return to some sense of normalcy.” Rental operators must follow social distancing requirements.
VOLUME 107, NO. 134 • ONE SECTION