Published by BOF on 2 April 2020

NEW YORK, United States — For millions of small business owners across the country, April's rent is officially past due.

Karina Lopez, whose Portland, Ore. lifestyle boutique, Darling Distraction, closed two weeks ago along with countless other businesses in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, said she's one of the lucky ones. Her landlord has offered to defer April's rent until the fall.

But she's worried even that won't be enough. Some Darling Distraction customers placed orders with the boutique's online store after it closed, but ecommerce sales have stalled. Business is down more than 70 percent.

"Right now, I'm relieved I don't have to pay for April," she said. "But if our sales continue to drop, I'll have to see if [my landlord] could let me pay in instalments… Everything is coming from my savings right now."

Thousands of small, independently-owned fashion vendors and retailers, and even some international chains, will have trouble paying the bills in upcoming months as Covid-19 continues to keep consumers on lockdown and the world economy in freefall. Under government mandate, non-essential stores across the world remain closed in order to curb the spread of the virus.

As the crisis unfolds, apparel and luxury retailers will take a massive economic hit. Already retail traffic in the US is down about 80 percent in the third week of March, compared with a year earlier, according to Morgan Stanley, and will likely drop further.

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