I am interested on how business is doing after a pandemic and now a tariff war. I suspect that many businesses have not fully recovered from the pandemic and now will be set back from the tariff war. Bars and restaurants seem to be down as well as hobby related businesses as these fall into the discretionary spending category. McDonalds and Tim Horton's are not as busy as they use to be in the middle of the afternoon.
Hobbyist report on the health of the economy - Do you see businesses closing down, are businesses downsizing. Lay offs. Regular biz and hobby biz.
- Thread starter Ceiling Cat
- Start date
The really good restaurants in my area continue to be busy. The chains and mediocre ones not. People are being more careful with their money.
A trip to St Lawrence Market recently saw me avoiding some items I used to buy because of sticker shock. One seafood place where I would get a bag of mixed seafoid(mussels, clams, shrimp, calamari) used to be 10.00 is now 16.00.
Funny enough though meat prices seem to be stable. And sales come up pretty regular.
Either way I just avoid eating out beyond one take out a week and occasional dinners with friends.
A trip to St Lawrence Market recently saw me avoiding some items I used to buy because of sticker shock. One seafood place where I would get a bag of mixed seafoid(mussels, clams, shrimp, calamari) used to be 10.00 is now 16.00.
Funny enough though meat prices seem to be stable. And sales come up pretty regular.
Either way I just avoid eating out beyond one take out a week and occasional dinners with friends.
Where I used to work(retired now) they never slowed down during the pandemic and have hired people the last few years. It's not the type of operation where you just flip a switch to shut things down and start back up again.
Fast food restaurants have slowed a bit. I mean come on, $15 for a meal at McDonald's, Harvey's is crazy. But the DQ by me always seems to be steady.
Only business I know that has cut back on employees is the Casino in Niagara Falls.
I don't know anyone who has lost their job due to the pandemic or tariffs.
Fast food restaurants have slowed a bit. I mean come on, $15 for a meal at McDonald's, Harvey's is crazy. But the DQ by me always seems to be steady.
Only business I know that has cut back on employees is the Casino in Niagara Falls.
I don't know anyone who has lost their job due to the pandemic or tariffs.
Where I am people move here from the city, open shop then on average 4 years or so close up shop and next person in line comes in trying their luck. I mostly just prefer cooking at home even pre pandemic. A place here opened up and the 2 dishes I'd get were under $23 and now it's an additional $10 or more. So I barely will go there now. But I'm also not in a city so they take advantage of things especially since it tends to be a tourist town. Fast food is extremely high since Covid especially A&W. I'll generally get something once or twice a month. Most franchise places were never a good business investment unless it was a heavily populated area due to rent & franchise fees. Most owners are probably even behind on rent and stuff. A lot of the newer generation also generally prefer to eat healthy compared to previous gens I'd say. I know quite a few young kids to babies who have allergy issues too so parents just stick with giving the kids fruits/veggies at home.
Since 2020 I have probably had fast food 5 times. Swiss Chalet was really quiet the last time I was there.
I think it is a good question. I wonder if the barometer to measure the economy is to hear from the girls providing services. Can they honestly say business is up or down and by how much year-over-year. If business is up is it because the menu has to open up to entice new and existing business. It business is down is there something to it - ie greater competition from new ladies? Is there an influx of women from hardest hit economies? For most, this hobby is purely discretionary expenses. I would expect this to be reflected in the ladies’ businesses.
It could be everything is fine, but where their working days reduced, are they on schedule when they aren’t, are they working the posted hours, etc…. Bars and restaurants are notorious for blocking off tables, restricting admissions, creating lines. They do this to create scarcity. Why not for SPs? As I look at Perla Spa, I am not convinced that all of the girls are on staff or available during the posted times. Also, I am pretty sure there has to be about a dozen rooms but only five or six are occupied on a given day. It gives the illusion that a building with a large footprint is running at capacity because there are so few women available. I realize this is anecdotal.
The ones in survival mode will ask for less just to make do for what they really need/want. I've met some from SB sites who were fine with $200 or less and I spent hours with them socializing and such. Their rent situation was a lot different than the average lady on LL at times. They also didn't care much about making more money. I even openly said to a few I seen wouldn't you ask for like $200 per hour or so and they shrugged it off. Clients who only know about LL or so generally will fund the rate that's advertised. The ones still asking $250 or $300 for a H might add an extra $50 to their H so if some clients leave the others who still want to spend will show up cause they have the funds so it somewhat balances out with the ones leaving due to the $50 rate increase. I'm sure hard times are coming for people but it really boils down to their situation. A lot of people sold their homes during the pandemic or afterwards cause of interest rates and some ended up working 2/3 jobs just to keep the lifestyle they want or even rent to a roommate or such. People generally figure things out. Most SBs based just on my experience lean towards survival mode especially with kid(s) involved. Find someone good with a safety net and it's typically a no brainer...
M&M schedule can reflect how economy is doing lol
don’t let economist see this or it might impact the interest rate hike lol M&M schedule can reflect how economy is doing lol
Coincidentally, a long present M&M's (frozen food place) just closed near me. Speaking personally, I'm holding off on getting a new roof, hoping the almost SP hourly rate comes down with a recession.
I still commute a couple times a week into the Burlington area and the office towers in the area seem to have less cars in the parking lots. But... I don't notice any real difference in the traffic volumes on the QEW/403 so it might mean more office workers are WFH from this time a year ago. I do see more lease/sub-lease signs on the industrial/warehousing properties.
