For Mitchell and Skye Cohen, the third-generation owners of Economy Candy in New York City, the short period between Halloween a

admin2022-11-16  77

问题     For Mitchell and Skye Cohen, the third-generation owners of Economy Candy in New York City, the short period between Halloween and New Year is usually the busiest season. The store would serve upwards of a thousand customers in a weekend, when shoppers flocked to the small Lower East Side store to buy candy in bulk for holiday gifts and parties.
    But this year, the aisles of Economy Candy are uncharacteristically quiet, devoid of their typical crowds of loyal locals and curious tourists. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit New York City in March, the Cohens halted in-person shopping for the first time in the store’s 83 years. For a business that has always relied on foot traffic for the majority of its revenue, the decision was tough but necessary: the shop wasn’t big enough to keep people a safe distance from one another, and the costs of stocking, staffing and sanitizing far outweighed the profit they’d see if they stayed open. So, for the past nine months, the Cohens have sold their sweets primarily via their website, shipping orders or arranging curbside pickup.
    More than 30 million small businesses in the U.S. are struggling for footing in what should be their busiest quarter. A Visa survey taken in September found that 69% of small businesses still viewed the 2020 holiday season as a top sales opportunity—but retail looks vastly different when a health crisis is both upending the economy and changing the way we shop.
    And in the age of social distancing, online shopping will see a boost. A November McKinsey report found that 37% of consumers will shop more online this holiday season. As a result, many small businesses that may have had little to no digital presence are upping their online offerings.
    It’s a challenge unlike anything else Economy Candy has experienced over the nearly nine decades it’s been in business, during which it has survived the Great Depression, 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy. But the Cohens remain hopeful that their turning to online sales can save them this holiday season. They have begun making candy care packages in Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holidays that encourage customers to celebrate the season with loved ones, even if they have to do so from afar.
    "We got by the first 80 years by people telling their friends and people from out of town to go shop at Economy Candy; now, word of mouth is online and on social media," Mitchell Cohen said. "We need people to shop local and shop mom-and-pops so we can be here for another 80 years."
Economy Candy changed the way it ran business due to________.

选项 A、complaints from its customers
B、the high cost of operation
C、the pressure from competitors
D、the increasing cost of advertising

答案B

解析 根据题干Economy Candy changed the way it ran business可定位到文章第二段。第二段讲述了因疫情暴发,平价糖果店不得不寻求经营模式的改变。第三句提到For a business that has always relied on foot traffic for the majority of its revenue, the decision was tough but necessary: the shop wasn’t big enough to keep people a safe distance from one another, and the costs of stocking, staffing and sanitizing far outweighed the profit they’d see if they stayed open. 本句意为“对于一个主要收入一直靠客流量的零售商来说,这是个艰难的决定,但也是必要的:这家店面并不大,无法让人们保持安全社交距离,而且如果继续线下营业,库存、员工和消毒成本大大超出了能获得的利润。”由此可知,疫情导致小店的经营成本升高,所以不得不改变经营方式,故正确答案为B。A项“客户的抱怨”、C项“来自竞争对手的压力”、D项“不断增加的广告成本”在文中均未提到,所以全部排除。
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/j51iFFFM
0

最新回复(0)