A new report on Carroll County’s economic post-COVID recovery shows an “impressive comeback” for area retailers. Matt Meiners, the Economic Vitality Director for Carroll Area Development Corporation (CADC), has been working closely with Retail Coach, Austin Farmer, on collecting and collating data.
The downtown area took a big hit when the JC Penney store closed. However, the positive numbers show downtown retailers found ways to remain viable.
The timeline of the study is from June of 2019 through June of 2021, which spans a period before, during and after COVID. And even though the largest recovery numbers were in the tourism sector, this did not include the influx of fans that came to boys’ state baseball in July. Meiners says the retail side of things in Carroll really only saw about a 40 percent hit during COVID. This allowed for a quicker recovery to get back to status quo and beyond. He says it is great to see people returning to the Carroll area to shop, eat, stay and do many other things. Meiners explains what these numbers mean to the CADC and Retail Coach.
Meiners says this report is very exciting for Carroll County.
And when it comes to future recruitment, these numbers show this is a community that can battle adversity well and find ways to get through. It reveals a resilient workforce and people who are willing to go out and do what needs to be done to support their businesses. Meiners says Carroll County should be proud of what they have done. They will continue to collect and study data to help get more movement and traction in the future. Meiners joined the CADC in January of this year and not only works closely with Retail Coach but also on economic development. A graph showing the numbers discussed can be found below.
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