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by localhost3000 2231 days ago
> That volume is simply not coming back.

I keep hearing versions of this. Such dire finality. Do you actually believe that in 1 or 2 years time bars in Times Square won't be as busy as ever? If yes I think you are radically underestimating New Yorkers.

3 comments

Look at the Spanish flu after that 1919 you had the roaring 20's people did not change behaviour radically after that.
Entirely depends upon whether or not people feel safe in crowds.

More effective treatments, a vaccine, herd immunity, better testing and tracing, or some combination thereof could make people feel safe in crowds again.

But I do think there will be a large shift toward more "work from home" for office workers with fewer open office cube farms and more contained offices for individuals/small teams, so I would expect the lunch and afterwork crowds in Manhattan to thin out. It's not going to be fun going out to happy hour when you might get sick with a dangerous virus that could kill your parents if you visit them that weekend.

And 1-2 years is more than enough time for all of those bars in Times Square to go out of business. Someone will open new ones when a vaccine comes out, of course, but that could be a long time.

And if the schools do not reopen in the fall in the city but they do in the suburbs, a lot of families will leave. I might :(. Remote schooling has been a disaster.

New Yorkers don't go to times square, rich tourists do.