Last week, we asked local business owners around the country how Patch could best help them weather the economic downturn brought on by the new coronavirus. We received hundreds of responses and a number of excellent ideas — stay tuned! — but far and away, the most common response was: "Help us let the community know we're open for business."



So we've created a simple local directory page that business owners can quickly and easily update with their status. Business owners can update their information in the form at the bottom of this article. We're going to publish the directory on Patch, in our local email newsletters and on our local Facebook pages to ensure that as many community members as possible know the status of your business. We'll continue to do this until this crisis has passed and our local businesses are back to normal operations.

We also understand that many local businesses aren't open currently, but are working through contingency plans to open again soon. You can list your business in the directory and update it when you're back open. Local Patch readers who want to know what's open in town can access the directory here.

We encourage you to share the link with your friends, neighbors and your social media connections, to help support local businesses through this very difficult time. And if you know a local business owner, make sure they get their business on the list by pointing them to this article. We're working on a number of initiatives to further support local businesses in the communities we cover. We'll be updating all of our readers on these efforts in the coming days. Thanks for reading the Patch, and for supporting local businesses in your town.