Coronavirus cancellations impacts valley businesses

The coronavirus has caused sweeping cancellations throughout the nation, and locally in the Coachella Valley.

The BNP Paribas open was cancelled, while Stagecoach and Coachella were postponed.

The impacts have began to take their toll on local businesses.

"At least in summer we're prepared for it but for this to hit in the beginning of March is detrimental to us," Jadabugs Kids Boutique owner Heidi McArthur said.

McArthur's business has seen a rapid decline in sales in recent weeks.

"I have a rental business where I rent out car seats and strollers, full-sized cribs. Things that people on vacation will rent," McArthur said.

As of Friday, nothing was letting up.

"I've had them all canceled, and I have to refund in full. A lot of the things are purchased just for those specific rentals," McArthur said.

McArthur said the store's foot traffic hasn't been any better. She relies heavily on businesses from vacationers, and people in town for all the big events that were just canceled.

"I'm not sleeping much at all actually. I'm a single mom with a 7-year-old son and this is how I pay my bills," McArthur said.

There are several other small business owners throughout the valley who are feeling the effects of widespread event cancellations.

"I've had 3 cancellations today that were groups that were coming in this month," Palm Desert Kaiser Grill owner, Eric Morcus said.

He says he doesn't want to impact his work family, but it may be necessary.

"I've let them know what's going on, the potential impact on them. They might be working one or two days less a week. I have no choice to do that," Morcus said.

"For small business owners, they plan their year around certain key benchmarks that they know is going to bring them business," Greater Coachella Valley Chamber of Commerce President, Joshua Bonner said.

Bonner has referred to the Small Business Administration, which has since began allowing small businesses affected by the coronavirus impact, to apply for low-interest loans.

The process to obtain a loan is often difficult and lengthy. Bonner believes something has to let up to cut through the red tape.

"I would imagine they may start to streamline some of that with what's going on because they're going to have a larger amount of applications than normal, and the funds are only good if we can get to them," Bonner said.

In the meantime, the impacts are also trickling down to employees.

For more information, you can visit the Legal Aid at Work site: