Businesses Still Fleeing
And taking hundreds of millions in tax revenue with them:
- Chicago had fewer licensed businesses operating in the
city in 2024 than during any year in the past decade, thanks to 17% of
its businesses disappearing since 2015.
Analysis of Chicago business license data shows the city was home to 54,135 businesses with an active license in 2015. A decade later, that number has dropped to 44,840.
Among Chicago’s neighborhoods, the Magnificent Mile community on the Near North Side saw the largest percentage decline in active business licenses during the past decade, with the number falling from 1,600 to 784 last year – a 51% drop.
So who are you going to believe, your own lying eyes or Coneahead's sycophantic shills? Downtown is a resembling a ghost town every single day.
You know, it's stories like these (with accompanying facts, figures and graphs), showing the overall incompetency of the political structure that could provoke a panic attack in some mentally stunted individual.
Labels: city politics, money questions
posted by SCC at 12:05 AM
75 Comments:
I got the cure, offer crack houses immunity if they get business licenses....
To be fair, not all the blame goes to Mayor 19th Nervous Breakdown, a lot goes to Groot and the “mostly peaceful protest”.
A lot of businesses left then, and never returned.
Others hung on as long as they could before getting raped by savages or taxes.
Smart ones got out while the gettin’ was good.
19th Nervous Breakdown can’t seem to attract anything downtown outside of teen takeovers and the “too fast- too furious” idiots.
All is well. Stay calm. All is well.
They got a plan.
It's coming together.
Those not to be demonized yutes?
Why, they be the top contributors to the democrat party pacs!
Both in cash they gleen from peddling all that stolen swag stuff they grab during their festive celebratings, aka, riots AND from all that national prestige so bountifully spread via social media madness machines!
As for the Loop?
Why, has it not been effectively redistributed?
What's not to like?
What percentage of tax revenue lost would the Mag Mile represent?
Most people keep hearing this and stopped listening. I have an exit strategy. Only one year to go.
I went for a ride down on Michigan Ave yesterday morning. I only saw one Cop car in the median, even they're fleeing. Water tower place was totally void of tourists in front. How could Chicago politicians let this happen?!
Chicago is turning into San Franstinko. Democratic shantytown.
To be fair, I have to be in downtown Chicago three days a week and all I see are people, people, people! I wish it was a ghost town! The rumor of Chicago's demise has been exaggerated!
I like the panic attack theme 🫨🫨
Downtown (State St area) will become a version of it's former self before Jane Byrne began to revitalize it in approx 1979. Subsequent Mayor's continued that work. There has been a huge decline post RMD. Each mayor since him has screwed this city up so bad no business wants to be here.
Downtown is littered with vacant store fronts and mentally unstable homeless people, as well as those pesky illegals that the politicians protect. Really sad how incompetent politicians have destroyed this city.
Business are seeing the dark tunnel of Chicago. They are making the right decision by leaving or not coming to Chicago. Good for them, the city is in a slow death spiral.
every store and business closing up and moving out of Chicago must be racist... who else would actually want to open a business and make a profit, who else would not want to see half their inventory being stolen by the very neighborhood residents you are trying to sell to? yea,, they gotta be racist
Conehead is on the campaign trail, but he’s done. He lost the support that he had of three lowly CPD members after he promoted Talley to First Deputy, and then paraded her around on national TV like an idiot, in spite of her mismanagement of this department . He lost the support he had of two lowly CFD members, when Talley went over to the CFD and abused her power, which she has done on several occasions in the past.
At some in Chicago are rational. Businesses were treated like dirty for too long, they got tired of it, and left.
I hope where ever they moved to are working well.
Losses from 2015-2020 mostly had to do with shopping habits, tech, and competition. Smart money has been running away since 2020. Not a good situation because there is no remedy for Chicago because of demographics.
Now they can use those empty buildings to bring in and house more migrants. That’s a win win for the city and state. Oh I’m sorry about the migrant comment. I meant new arrivals!!!
Boeing leaves but a nail salon opens so all is well.
Drive down Halsted south of 63rd, or 115 S. Michigan, ghost towns of businesses that flourished decades ago. Lots of storefront churches and liquor stores. Why do they ruin the neighborhoods that they live in.
Years ago The Water Tower was the place the activists went to protest the day after Thanksgiving. Now that the protestors made their point, what's their plan for the site. It can't be that their to stupid to create something.
It’s impossible to run a profitable business in Chicago. The taxes, fines, rents, shrinkage, insurance, fees, lawsuits, etc, are back breaking. A business is only surviving due to an owners will to stick it out.
Those owners are ALL making plans to leave.
Signed,
An owner of a business
Ps…if you own a small law firm that has a shared office on a second floor you are making money.
Well said my friend, can’t keep electing officials who love criminals,illegals, and homeless.
That's what I'm talking about....
RMD started the decline
What kind of people?
Downtown It’s perfect location for his people they will put up weed dispensary’s, weave stores, liquor stores and dollar trees..
It is only a matter of time, and not in the too distant future, the city will have to go bankrupt. The debt is too much, the pensions are underfunded and we have had a succession of disastrous mayors. I wonder how much of a haircut I will have to take on my pension ?
But just wait. Mayor dumb ass wants a congestion tax. An employee head tax etc. Pritzker wants a mileage tax. So who do you think will actually drive in to the city? Shitcago will be a ghost town in a year .
When you legalize crime you get more crime. Simple.
Everything in HELLinois is going to be bankrupt soon if Conehead and Fred Fatstone are allowed to continue in office, and they are doing it internet per their Cloward-Piven Plan to institute Communism.
So sayeth Kevin Bacon, so sayeth us all.
New compliant voters... there, I fixed it for you. Love, JB Pigster
Bull crap, there’s some people downtown, but it’s a far cry from the 90s and early 00’s. The pandemic under Lightfoot’s “leadership” put the City on the ropes and now CTU has brought in Mayor Panic Attacks / Mr “Tax the Rich” to finish it off.
The current downtown Chicago office vacancy rate reported by Cushman and Wakefield for Q2/2025 is 26.5%. In addition, the continuing foreclosure crisis among downtown office buildings is contributing to the increasing vacancy factor. Companies/tenants are reducing their office footprint size because of downsizing and relocation to other markets, crime, high cost of operating in the City, and high employment and property taxes. Office markets such as Miami and Palm Beach are much more attractive. Citadel saw the writing on the wall and left a few years ago for Miami.
When you IQ is slightly higher that your shoe size it's simple.
They are all great former students of CPS.
Belive it or not my relatives from Detroit used to visit to go shopping on the Mag Mile twenty five years ago. Now they tell me to leave here!
Might as well make Jussie Smolliet mayor.
spot on
All the guys complain about the city being bankrupt then work 4 hours get paid for 8 typical unit and tac HJ’s. Great thinking there really good.
And buy it retail like reefer? Why do you think there's still a black market? Taxes'er fer chumps.
Every Blue state is a complete SHITHOLE
The blinders on the progressive left are in place. They wont see anything until it is too late. And then they will blame the Trump administration...the far-left lollipops never take the blame for their failed policies...and the current trend is toward leaving the Chicago area. It will take a generation or two to reverse it.
Water Tower is a empty except for American Girl. Maybe it could go condo?
When will the people who pay taxes actually go out and vote so these assholes don’t get elected. Until that happens we are doomed in illinois
But we are on a salary...how does that effect the bottom line? I came on when the city paid us lots of OT. You made an arrest and you went to court. Traffic, misdemeanor, felony, Guns, prostitution, domestic were all different court keys. Now the city questions if every court notification is necessary. The only difference I see is complete mismanagement from the top down.
downtown will someday be section 8 housing liquior stores , beauty salons
People who run busineses tend to be smarter...they are not likely to stay when the climate shows too much risk in the bottom line. I will bet that a majority of buisnesses in this state already have an exit strategy just in case.
Look at Detroit for some education. Yes you will be paid.
Manufacturers who then sell their wares retail over the internet need multiple business licenses.
Dare to have a driveway at your business? Ya gotta pay a fee for EACH driveway...
Utilities tax. Entertainment services tax. Internet tax. Sales taxes up the wazoo + overlays for certain areas (*cough*McPier*cough*). Lease tax. Head tax. Congestion tax. Red light cameras... Speed cameras. City sticker tax. Carryout container tax. Bottled water tax. Gas tax (City, County, State). License plate costs.
High insurance due to unchecked criminal activity and regulations.
City building codes for all kinds of bullshit that just make things more expensive.
Sign fees and regulations + fat envelope for Aldercritters.
High labor costs: Forced paid vacation for part timers. Artificially high minimum wage. Forced insurance costs.
High utilities costs due to short-sighted policies regarding electricity generation.
Firearms restricted - unless you're a criminal.
What's not to love? You'd have to be crazy not to want to locate a business in the middle of Chiraq! >sarc<
Bring on the Fed's please. Go after BJ and if he refuses to cooperate and change his tune on the non cooperation place him under arrest and charge him Next pig jowls in his almost skinny pants. Please take over the PD and reorganize it and get rid of so called merit. Abolish COPA and the rest of the liberal hate panels they have come up with.Stop with the don't stop the members of the color communities for no DL's and minor traffic violations. Its ridiculous this insane thinking goes on.
Absolutely correct
Detroit took 90 cents on the dollar. Thus you could lose 10%.
Spot on
We will see the national guard soon. Maybe that will change things.
You mean Water ghetto
So, If the city has so many businesses closing and there is an abundance of building spaces available, maybe some of those Command personnel who claimed PPP money now have a place to actually house their businesses?? Sarcasm!
You do realize officers are discouraged from making arrests due to the go’s, with onerous oversight that wants to fire you because you arrested a minority.
Look at DeSantis & Pritzker. Mayor of Miami, a Republican, Mayor of Chicago on meds, but they do "random drug testing" on you! Sad!
This city is all about the numbers...
Not just in Chicago, but in other communist strongholds too:
Bed Bath & Beyond Flees California’s Marxist Mess: The Latest Casualty in the Golden State’s Business Exodus
In a bold move that underscores the catastrophic failure of California’s left-wing policies, Bed Bath & Beyond has announced it will not open or operate any retail stores in the Golden State. The company’s Executive Chairman, Marcus Lemonis, didn’t mince words in a scathing letter, declaring that California’s overregulation and hostile business environment have made it “nearly impossible” to do business there. This decision comes as the retailer, which filed for bankruptcy in 2023 and was revived under new ownership, seeks to rebuild nationwide—but not in the once-prosperous state now plagued by Democrat-driven socialism. Lemonis’s statement is a damning indictment: excessive bureaucracy, sky-high taxes, and draconian mandates have turned California into a no-go zone for entrepreneurs and job creators.
https://choiceclips.whatfinger.com/2025/08/20/bed-bath-beyond-flees-californias-marxist-mess-the-latest-casualty-in-the-golden-states-business-exodus/
Crime is down and the economy is great. Eat shit democRats
So if what you say is true, and they stay for 8 hours, the city will be less bankrupt? LOL!
OT-from ABC7-Meanwhile, the ABC7 I-Team is tracking the latest threats to Illinois from the U.S. Justice Department. Threats???? Trump has repeatedly described some of the nation's largest cities - run by Democrats, with Black mayors and majority-minority populations - as dangerous and filthy. Not slanted at all.
Start looking for out-of-state property today. Then it will be ready when you retire.... and hope your city property holds its value
Don't forget the parking costs, bike lanes, rats, bed bugs, chiraqi public schools that keep stealing more property tax...
When will:
An even minimally MAGA candidate be allowed to be on any ballot here?
The massive quanties of: dead, left the state, never existed, illegal non-citizens, fraud addressed, multiple ballots cast, multiple variations of same name, ditto for every last cheater method, + et cetera, be even mildly decreased?
The mass quantities of moocher legacy hog constiuents motivated to not bother to vote? And their ballots not cast by others?
The only possibly noticable effect of many more voters voting is to spread their votes so thoroughly amongst all candidates for any specific elected office, which would require there be multiple candidates on ballot, and thwart that heretofore easy elections of those annointed with hog trough juices. Make spoilers out of every candidate.
Don't worry, MB churches, hair weavers and liquor stores will soon fill the void to cater to the tenants in the low income housing coneheads opening
There have always been condos in Water Tower. But retail floors are really a sad mix of retail/dentist offices and restaurants nobody’s ever heard of now. I remember going to WT when it first opened. My mom had a job on Michigan Ave. We didn’t have money, but we could look. We took the train down and me and a friend “window shopped” with my mom, tried clothes at Marshall Field’s and bought us chocolates in another store. I remember being so mesmerized by the bustle of people, the glass elevator and Marshall Field’s. Later as an adult, I would take my niece to see movies there, but then that got ruined. All of us know why. I never saw the behavior I do now- I used to be civil. I’m too old to be putting up with the shit I see now, so I avoid it
BB&B had been a dying business for the last decade. Their appeal faded because businesses like Costco, Homegoods and Amazon could offer the same stuff. The 30% coupon was a good gimmick until you realized the 30% brought it down to competitor pricing. Then they started screwing with the coupon that never expired and limiting the use.
State Street south of Grand is sketchy as hell
This is BJ's grand plan!! the WNR economy for Chicago: Weave, Nails & Rims. What could go wrong??
Chicago has 1,000’s of unlicensed street vendors in the black and brown neighborhoods. From tacos,coffee, snow cones, snacks to small bicycles, paintings . Let’s not forget the unlicensed open air drug markets in many black and brown neighborhoods. You won’t find any of the above in Edison Park , Sauganash neighborhoods. People there don’t tolerate this.
It is their plan for 15 minute cities, they want everyone stacked on top of each other in a central location, driving unreliable electric vehicles that have a limited range, can’t have the rabble moving about the country freely, you will be easier to control in cities. Anyone with acreage living in the sticks or on farmland will be bought out or forced out by proxies Gates, Chy-nah, or BlackRock. Can’t have citizens freelancing growing their own food, milking their cows, butchering livestock to survive outside of the system that will be put in place by the one who will control the world for a short time. You wont be able to buy or sell without a mark, what that mark is remains to be seen.
Leave it to incompetent morons like johnson and pritzger to cut out the life blood of finance, big business. Then have outrageous taxes imposed on the unprotected poor. Ahhh, communism at its finest.
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