(VitalNews.org) – Small businesses have been continuing to deal with high rent prices, and in some cases these rent prices are continuing to rise rapidly. This price hike has forced many business owners to make some difficult decisions as they try to bring in more revenue or cut costs.
“Every time the rent goes up, we have to raise prices, to keep up with the cost, but with the cost of living, it makes it difficult for our customers,” said Adelina Valentine, owner of HairFreek Barbers in Los Angeles.
Inflation may be easing for many products and consumers, but it still remains a top issue for business owners, especially those facing high rent prices. Rent payments for small business clients rose eleven percent, according to the Bank of America.
We’ve seen falling inflation and easier financial times post-pandemic compared to during, but business owners are among those that are still suffering. According to a survey by Alignable, a networking platform, forty percent of the polled six thousand small business owners couldn’t pay their July rent on time. Fifty percent of those surveyed said that they’ve dealt with rapid rent increases in the past six months.
In Valentine’s case, her rent increased from thirty-six hundred dollars to four thousand dollars a month in just one month. To combat this and offset some of the price she’s having to pay in rent, she’s had to raise her pricing for haircuts.
According to Valentine, after the price increase, “A lot of people can’t afford to take a whole family to get haircuts.”
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