It has been up to city and state officials in the pandemic to define which businesses are "essential" and can remain open during Covid-related shutdowns. Businesses critical to maintaining citizens' basic needs — health care services, grocery stores, home improvement stores and gas stations, for example — were declared essential early on. Macy's, (M) for example, was deemed a "non-essential" business at the onset of the pandemic and closed its stores. The retailer lost sales to businesses that sold groceries and other everyday items like Amazon (AMZN), Walmart (WMT), Target (TGT), Costco (COST), which were allowed to remain open. Macy's still has not fully recovered: Sales at stores open for at least one year dropped 21% during the 13 weeks ending October 30 compared with the same stretch last year, Macy's said Thursday.

Source: The Nation November 21, 2020 19:41 UTC