KC business reflects on 12 months in a pandemic

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Like many people in March 2020, the owners at downtown Kansas City printing company MPress thought the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic would be over in a few weeks or months.”When it started we really did not know the magnitude,” said Ralph Myers, who started MPress with his wife and son 20 years ago. “We did not how long it was going to last.”When stay-at-home orders began, the company finished a few projects and closed down.”We basically shut down the business and sent people home,” Myers said.The company stayed shuttered for about a month and reopened in May 2020, like many businesses in Kansas City, but the excitement that came from reopening was short-lived. “That’s when it was awful,” Myers said. “None of our customers were working. Nobody knew what to do, they were canceling all their projects. So, during that time there were almost no orders coming in.”Business slowly ticked up over the summer, now almost 12 months later, it’s still nowhere back to normal. That’s been a similar story for many Kansas City businesses for the past year. According to a Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce survey released in January, 20% of area businesses have seen revenues drop by more than half and 15% of companies have temporarily or permanently closed.”Obviously every business has been impacted,” said Jeff Carson, the Kansas City Region president of Enterprise Bank & Trust. “It’s tough out there. Nobody needs to candy-coat that.” Carson says the bank has been working closely with their business clients in the past year by coming up with solutions through downturns and helping them navigate complicated government programs.”I don’t think it’s going to get easier any time soon,” Carson said. “I think we’ve got several innings left in this game.”Enterprise Bank has seen an increase in people taking advantage of their online courses that offer business advice on a wide variety of topics. Enterprise University classes are free and available to the public. Bank leaders say the goal is to help business owners find sound advice in uncertain times.”Given that there is so much noise out there, we’ve kind of condensed that noise into one of the 15 to 20 topics that should be keeping business owners awake at night,” Carson said.Even though the future remains unsure for many businesses, there are signs of hope in 2021. At MPress Printing, they’ve seen about 60% of their original business come back and they are confident the business will stay open for many years to come.”We had to deal with — just like you would in any turndown — how am I gonna make it with this reduced volume of business?” Myers said. “And we really worked hard at that.”At Enterprise Bank, Carson says the pandemic has actually made many businesses stronger, more nimble and prepared for anything the future might throw at them.”At the end of the day, the resilience, the grit, the perseverance of Midwestern businesses,” he said. “I’m going to bet on them all day long.”