Commercial rents continue to increase throughout Wilton Manors and Fort Lauderdale in a substantial way over the past several years. Clearly, it has become more difficult for aspiring entrepreneurs to open and create solid successes with businesses on Wilton Drive.
The concept of coming to Florida with a nest egg to enjoy the beautiful sun and everything that South Florida offers along with opening a business on paper theoretically just seems to make so much sense. You would think it would point to “just makes sense” potential for one great life. Unfortunately, not everyone has found this to be true.
Way too many entrepreneurs have found that their dream can be very challenging. Some have even squandered their life savings for something they thought would be rewarding and a great way to spend the remaining years of their life.
Wilton Manors works hand-in-hand very well with new business owners and welcomes new businesses. The LGBTQ media companies do a fantastic job in bringing tremendous awareness to these new businesses. But, the fact of the matter is during our summer months the cost of higher rents, much higher cost of product for our business owners to purchase from their vendors, insurance increases and everything else just cost more. It’s killing our local businesses.
This past summer of 2024 has been one of the toughest summers from what I have heard from multiple sources on the challenge of running their day-to-day businesses, let alone keeping the doors open due to increased costs and the lack of enough incoming cash flow to these businesses. According to my sources, revenue is down anywhere from 5 to 25% less from the previous summer. Our business owners have remained loyal to their staff, committed to running the best business possible in most cases. This is a tribute to the fortitude, tenacity and loyalty demonstrated to the community by our business owners.
The heroes in all of this are our local community members that supported our businesses throughout this summer. It has been critical that these amazing community members support our businesses with loyalty on a regular basis. If this did not happen, Wilton Manors would not be sustainable for businesses to survive during the summer months. Many would have to close. Life savings would be lost. Staff members would be out of work with very few options of new work elsewhere. Our local community members should be recognized and thanked for their amazing commitment to ensure that we as business owners survive.
Thank you, South Florida local LGBTQ community members, for your unwavering loyalty and dedication to our businesses during these past summer months.
Bobby Blair is a LGBTQ media pioneer and leader known for his philanthropic work on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community. A Florida native, he lives in Fort Lauderdale with his longtime partner, Brian Neal. Blair was inducted into the GLBT Hall of Fame in 2015.
