They Started Hand-Sanitizer Businesses During Covid. How Are They Doing Now? Downtown Bar Closes, Owner Cites COVID-19 Pandemic, Drinking Habit Changes, and other C-Virus related stories

WSJ: They Started Hand-Sanitizer Businesses During Covid. How Are They Doing Now?

Consumers couldn’t get enough of the product during the pandemic. But as demand cooled, some startups found they had to pivot.

During the pandemic, hand sanitizers became everyone’s front-line defense—and countless startups launched to meet the overwhelming demand.

Then the demand wasn’t so overwhelming anymore.

According to research company Statista, the global hand-sanitizer market boomed by 500% in 2020 to $6.3 billion in revenue from $1.03 billion in 2019. But as the pandemic subsided, so did sales: $3.5 billion in 2021, and hovering around $3 billion for the next couple of years.

So, what happened to all those startups? Here’s a look at three of them.

Easing parental concerns

Amy Welsman was inspired to rework sanitizer before the pandemic hit—when she became a new mom in 2019. Welsman, who previously handled an array of jobs for women’s intimates brand Knix, found the sanitizers on the market harsh and off-putting, and she didn’t want it on her hands when she changed her baby. Her idea: sanitizer with a better scent and ingredients that nourished the skin, sold in more environmentally friendly packages.

By the time she launched her startup, Paume, in 2021, the pandemic was at its height. “I was planning to make utilitarian hand sanitizer a luxurious beauty product—something totally new,” she says. “As I was developing the product, the pandemic hit, and the sanitizer category changed overnight.”

With demand for sanitizer soaring, she decided to reach out to a wider base of customers than just new moms.

The company garnered some attention in the media and attracted a loyal following, Welsman says. But overall “marketing to a broad market was tough in the early days,” she says. “There was a backlash in the hand-sanitizer industry, where people would say, ‘I never want to see it again.’ ”

So, Welsman decided to focus her efforts on the group that originally inspired Paume—new moms. They “care about hand hygiene and minimizing the spread of germs in their families. They also want products to make you feel good,” she says.

The strategy worked. Paume’s revenue grew 40% in 2022 to $570,000 as the company expanded beyond sanitizer into the hand-care category. Revenue reached over $1.5 million in 2023 and is on track to double again this year, Welsman says, and the company has launched six new products, including a nail and cuticle cream. The company also secured retail partnerships with stores including Holt Renfrew and Bluemercury.

“Despite what most people would assume, we have seen our most significant growth in the last year,” she says. —>READ MORE HERE (or HERE)

Downtown bar closes, owner cites COVID-19 pandemic, drinking habit changes:

A late-night social hub known for its drag brunches, karaoke nights, dance parties and other themed and LGBTQ-friendly events has closed downtown.

In September 2019, bar and restaurant entrepreneur Charlie Hodge opened Asheville Beauty Academy at 28 Broadway St. downtown.

The last event at the bar was April 27 but Hodge officially announced the closure to the public on May 8.

“It’s been such a struggle keeping it open,” Hodge said. “We opened less than half a year before COVID hit, were closed for a year, then the rocky journey of the last three years has been difficult.”

As a business that benefited from downtown tourism foot traffic, Hodge said although the bar garnered more guests in the increased weekend traffic, weekday traffic had dramatically decreased.

Hodge said upon seeing the decline over the holidays, the venue closed for the remainder of the slower winter season in January and February. When the bar reopened for March and April, the hours of operations were limited and eliminated weekdays. One or two special weekend events were hosted on Fridays and Saturdays.

Hodge said other factors may have affected the business, such as people being tighter with budgets. He added that since the pandemic, more people prefer to drink at home in an intimate setting as opposed to bars, and others have curbed or stopped drinking alcohol.

“COVID has shifted how people drink and how late they stay up, so what seemed like an exciting opportunity in 2019, there’s been a lot of turbulent waters with all of it,” Hodge said.

Staff and guest impacts

Hodge said that the Asheville Beauty Academy staff was told of the possibility of the business’s closure.

“We’d been talking about things since the end of the year and questioning what we could do ― if we were going to be able to maintain the business,” Hodge said.

Hodge said roles vacated by staff members who left for new jobs were not refilled. Four part-time employees worked one or two shifts a week at the time of the business’s closure. Shift positions include two bartenders, a door supervisor and a manager. —>READ MORE HERE

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