Employment took a major hit during COVID-19. But new data suggest that startups are forming at a fairly fast rate, laying the groundwork for a recovery.

“It is the normal, banal stuff that you don’t think about having to adjust to, then all of a sudden you have to find a way around.”

With the closures of treasured spots like Howard Deli, The Big Hunt, and Gregg’s Barber Shop, D.C. loses pieces of history and love.

The city’s jazz clubs, many of which closed pre-pandemic, have grown even more scarce after Sotto, Twins, and Alice’s Jazz and Cultural Society shuttered.

“We’re a community that was already suffering and underserved. Our businesses [are] always having to figure out how to survive.”

The tourist-dependent neighborhood saw over 60 businesses close last year. How will its businesses recover from the COVID slump?

A map of brick-and-mortar business closures compiled by WAMU and DCist shows how massive shifts in spending habits changed the city.