Everybody around me (at least in Japan) is worried about their businesses. Japan was riding a bubble because of the Olympics. Nobody wanted to talk about what would happen when the construction boom was over and the tourists went home.
Now, the reality (as of March 24th, 5 pm JST) is most probably the Olympics would be postponed, and many businesses won't be able to get any returns on the investment until, hopefully, next year.
I am also a small-business owner, and I understand the mood.
But, I think people are missing the emerging trends.
Things may not be the same after the pandemic is over.
People may get even more conscious of the following:
Food-loss (the amount of waste in convenience stores and supermarkets, the big portions even in Japan)
Our consumption patterns and waste (do we need all the stuff we buy?)
How much we depend so much on imported food and materials (globalization was good for both buyers and sellers, but what happens when we cannot even transport?)
Global warming and changes in the environment (I know some people think it is fiction, but many people think the pandemics could be attributed to the changes in the climate)
Our connections (with our loved ones and colleagues - aren't we alienated from each other, even in the same house or the office?)
Our livelihood (aren't we too dependent on our companies, a few big contracts?)
The meaning of life itself (what gives us meaning when we know that a tiny virus can kill us at any time?)
I am not a person who can guess the trends.
No surprise as actually nobody is good at predicting the future as argued by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his book The Black Swan. Unexpected and undercalculated things happen.
So these feelings may die right after the end of the pandemic.
People may go to a shopping spree.
But what happens, if a group of people, say 5%, think about other options.
On a global scale, it may become a significant change.