COVID-19 continues to force businesses to close

While the pandemic has created numerous problems for businesses, some have been fortunate to thrive off the pandemic.

February 7, 2022 7:04 PM

Vanessa Perez,

Posted: February 7, 2022 7:04 PM

Updated: February 7, 2022 8:40 PM

by Vanessa Perez

SPOKANE, Wash.- The financial burden put on some businesses by the pandemic has forced them to close.

The high cost of lobster tanked both High Tide Lobster Bar locations, owner Chad White announced on Sunday. The Hidden Mother Brewery closed its doors as well. Owner Mike Detar says there’s no better way to put it other than due to bad timing.

The location blocks away from the Spokane Arena opened right before COVID shutdowns.

“Just put us in a hard spot where we had to keep feeding it all the way through, and just it was kind of like we had our legs taken out from underneath us,” owner and founder of The Hidden Mother Brewery Mike Detar said.

Detar says they weren’t able to get enough people in seats because of the shutdowns. He says they also couldn’t meet their minimums and it buried the brewery in debt.

“I tried to do every single thing I could to make this thing survive like music across the street, everything you could do from a creative standpoint, distribution-anything. Just kept hitting a lot of walls and at some point, you’ve got to stop,” Detar said.

Detar says he’s now dabbling in other projects.

“I don’t even look at it. It’s a failed business but it’s really, really completely due to just the craziness of stuff I had no control over whereas I think the next go around there’s a lot more experience going into it,” he said.

He hopes the person who takes on the location can reap the benefits they built.

While the pandemic has created numerous problems for businesses, some have been fortunate to thrive off the pandemic. Such as Rambleraven Gear Trader who says the pandemic has canceled long-term plans and trips forcing people to want to get outdoors.

Rambleraven operated solely as a consignment store for its first three years, and then in 2019, the owner expanded to retail and service.

“Things have been great for us we’ve seen double to triple digits growth year over year over the last couple of years,” Mike Schneider owner of Rambleraven Gear Trader said.

Schneider says he’s grateful to be in such a position given the circumstances due to the pandemic.

“It’s quiet jubilation. There has been a part of me at times that almost feels guilty about the success when you see other people faltering and failing. so i have a lot of compassion for the businesses that aren’t doing well,” he said.