'Little bandwidth': Portland's small businesses outline economic struggles in new survey
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A new survey indicates that Portland’s small business owners have noticed a slight decline in vandalism, while other hurdles like rising costs and a lack of foot traffic have persisted.
The latest report from Bricks Need Mortar, the Portland-based advocacy group for small companies, shows that 57% of participating businesses had experienced at least one incident of vandalism or a break-in throughout 2024.
About 60% of respondents had the same answer the prior. And in 2022, 79% of participants said they had experienced vandalism at least once — with 62% of those businesses saying they had been hit on more than one occasion.
Although the threat of vandalism appears to be slowly dropping for the participating entrepreneurs, Bricks Need Mortar Founder Sarah Shaoul noted that the latest report garnered a total of 96 responses.
The group has more than 800 small businesses in its directory, and typically collects “well over 100” responses for its surveys.
“We attribute the lower response rate to the fact that our small businesses have little bandwidth due to economic factors,” Shaoul wrote in an email. “Small business owners are lowering their payrolls and wearing more hats in their businesses than ever before.”
When entrepreneurs were asked what would be their “biggest challenge” of 2025, many named rising costs, the “uncertain political climate” and weather — which was a major hurdle for local small businesses following the January 2024 winter storm.
Downtown Portland respondents also cited their location as a challenge. Although the area saw a slight increase in foot traffic from 2023 to 2024, its businesses told Downtown Portland Clean & Safe they were still struggling financially.
According to Bricks Need Mortar’s report, small companies are looking to cut expenses to help boost profit. Some have done this by reducing payroll, prioritizing their busiest locations and hoping “that nothing else breaks.”