Creative Solutions To The Havoc That Is COVID

My trusty Co-Star app reminded me this week that diamonds are just chunks of coal that have done well under pressure. I don’t know about you, but I feel that I am well on my way to becoming a diamond!

And that is why I am doubling down on finding (and celebrating) those who are grappling with this pandemic on a daily basis and working so hard to bring much-needed positivity and joy to our lives. Winners all!!

Scroll down to see what made it onto this week’s Top 10 List
1. COVID OR NOT, WE STILL WANT EXPERIENCES!
Groomed Guys Mobile Barber Shop – discovered in Soho

The owner (seated below) started this mobile Barbershop 3 years ago, way before COVID. However, the pandemic dialed up her “essentialness.”

Pandemic Art

All around town from Rockefeller Center’s Flag Project (click on the link below) to street art from Sara Erenthal on the Bowery.

  • Hundreds of New Yorkers submitted proposals to design eight-by-five-foot flags.
  • This past Saturday I serendipitously met one of the artists/designers, Sean Bonilla from the Bronx (pic above). Hire him – he just graduated from FIT.
  • In addition to the open call, well-known artists like KAWS, Hank Willis Thomas, Jeff Koons, Jenny Holzer, Laurie Anderson, Sanford Biggers, Sarah Sze, Shantell Martin, and Steve Powers were commissioned to create flags.
  • The only downside: if it’s not breezy you don’t get to see the designs in their full glory.
“Finding Calm Amid The Chaos” by Sara Erenthal (pic below) @ Bowery & Stanton
2. PLYWOOD Is having a major moment

Lumber futures are up more than 85% since April with plywood leading the way!

The uptick started with businesses boarding up late May (post-looting)

It got another boost when outdoor dining took off

Now, it’s become the canvas of choice for artists of the pandemic

If you happen to be in NYC, check out The Bowery Union Gallery (329 Broome Street).

3. Sales at Plant Nurseries/Garden Centers ARE skyrocketing
  • Through May, sales of plants, seeds, and soil were booming but primarily to people stuck at home for the lockdown. Many turned to gardening for relaxation.
  • As of July and August, however, I have seen hundreds of restaurants in NYC creating beautiful outdoor dining areas. ALWAYS with plants and flowers. Sales at garden centers and plant nurseries must be booming (have not yet found sales figures to verify).
4. MAINE: the “go-near” travel spot for East Coasters?

At least 10 of my friends have spent weekends in Maine over the last month. I am pea-green with envy. Maine was to be the first stop on my now canceled cross country road trip. But it is at the top of my wish-list for domestic travel in 2021.

5. COVID CAMPING CRAZE (Source: Daily Independent)

James Ramey (below), owner of Pioneer Used Auto and RV sales in Lavalette, KY, said he saw the most sales of his career in the last two months.

“When this hit in March, I was terrified I was going to lose everything. It’s typical to sell two or three campers a month but we sold two or three campers a day. It was unbelievable.

James Ramey, owner Pioneer Used Auto and RV sales
6. Fishing is booming – around the world!

Tackle shops around the country are saying this is their busiest year EVER!!

  • Type in “fishing” on Google Trends and you’ll see “fishing poles near me” is up 120%. (Source: CNN)
  • Colorado Parks and Wildlife has issued 90,000 more fishing licenses so far this year compared to the same period in 2019. (Source: CPR News)
  • There’s a growing trend of nighttime fishing (called “vampire” fishing) in Michigan and northern Ohio. According to some anglers, larger trout will hide during the day and wait for the sun to go down before coming out. (Source: Fox News)
  • In England, the Environment Agency said over 100,000 more people are angling. Rod license sales are up 20% compared to the same time last year. (Source: Reuters)
7. Afterpay, the installment payment platform, is on fire!!!

Afterpay shares have soared 740% during Covid-19, catapulting founders Nick Molnar, and Anthony Eisen to the ranks of 30-year old billionaires in Australia.

  • Sales on the platform more than doubled and the company unveiled overseas expansion plans including deals with Apple and Google.
  • I first became aware of Afterpay a few weeks ago while placing my monthly household order on Walmart.com. A few days later I noticed both Vans shoes and Free People offering the installment plan as well.
  • Afterpay is geared to millennials.
8. Anyone else noticing people really into ayahuasca?

I am extraordinarily late to this but there isn’t a day now that I don’t hear somebody talking about ayahuasca and its magical therapeutic benefits.

  • I first heard about it a few months ago when a friend mentioned attending one of their ceremonies to cure his mid-pandemic funk.
  • Soon afterward, I noticed Joe Rogan and his guests discussing it.
  • Now, EVERYONE is seemingly talking about it – all the time!
  • It’s especially popular with celebrities, most recently Zac Efron.

In researching ayahuasca, I found it first got trendy in Los Angeles back in 2013:

It’s not uncommon to overhear ladies at Soho House discussing their transcendental experience with the substance, which is consumed as a thick, almost chocolatey tea and comes from the Amazon, where it has been practiced as a spiritual ceremony for thousands of years. Ayahuasca is increasingly popping up in music, having been name-checked by everyone from Father John Misty to Alchemist to Ben Lee.

LA Weekly May 2013

For anyone interested, here’s a link to the Ayahuasca Foundation and their blog. It’s not my thing – throwing up, needing a guide to do “the journey” etc. Nope!!

9. 3 types OF COVID ENDINGS (Source: the Print)

Gina Kolata wrote in The New York Times earlier this year that medical historians recognize two types of pandemic endings:

  1. The medical ending, when the disease stops spreading
  2. The social ending, when people overcome their anxieties and move on.

Per India’s The Print, there is a third ending: the political. That’s when the government decides that as far as it is concerned, the pandemic is over.

  • Any of these three endings could occur first, as political leaders and society can decide to move on regardless of whether the cases have peaked.
  • Moncef Slaoui, one of the world’s foremost vaccine experts and chief advisor to the US government’s Operation Warp Speed project, is confident that up to 40 million at-risk people in the US will be vaccinated by February 2021.
  • Goldman Sachs mirrors this confidence and expects the US drug regulator to approve at least one vaccine in 2020, and that “large shares of the US and European populations will be vaccinated” by June and September 2021, respectively.

I’m already well into social ending #2. But I am anxiously anticipating, the medical ending. Get me that vaccine – I’ll even sign up for the Russian kind.

10. The pandemic as AN ACCELERANT

My big AHA this week was recognizing COVID as a super-accelerant, i.e., it will accelerate everything (good and bad) that was already in the process of changing.

It’s absolutely accelerating the future and in the process, supercharging trends that were already well underway.

For example:

  • Brick and mortar retailers, who had already been on a downward trajectory for years, are finally doing the right thing and closing.
  • Restaurants, operating on slim margins and in many cases shouldering enormous rent obligations, are being forced to throw in the towel. Note: I love restaurants but have been writing about the restaurant bubble bursting since December 2016. NOTE: many insiders are bullish about restaurants making a strong comeback. Per Danny Meyer: “There are great opportunities for new restaurateurs with new, fresh ideas to get into the business because they will not be saddled with back rent, they will not be saddled with having to lay off people. They’ll be able to start from scratch.” Fingers crossed he’s right!
  • Families with school-age children are finally doing the sensible thing and moving to the suburbs. It’s easier, roomier, and more affordable than trying to make do in a 2-3 bedroom city apartment. Per AZ Big Media, San Francisco and NYC had 80% more people leave than move in (followed closely by LA with 70% more people leaving). Scottsdale, AZ was the top city by net moves with 68% more people moving in versus out. On the state level, Idaho was the big winner with 194% more people moving into the state than out.
  • Divorces are surging post-lockdown. Reasons cited by lawyers include couples realizing they’re not vibing after so much togetherness, an uptick in abusive relationships and affairs coming to light during this extended lockdown.
  • ON THE PLUS SIDE: trends and businesses that the pandemic has put into overdrive include online shopping (incl. grocery), the move to cashless, virtual workouts, telemedicine, streaming video, FaceTime/Zoom meetings, outdoor activities from biking to alfresco dining to fishing, camping, and gardening.
And that, my friends, is a wrap.

This has been one of my best weeks. I was both productive and social! Huge shout out to my friends for joining me for so many wonderful al fresco lunches and dinners! More adventures, including bike rides, are calendared for this week.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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