An on-the-ground look at how local business owners plan to rebuild after the devastation of the Eaton fire.

As tariffs continue to pinch businesses, growth opportunities and expansions have slowed to a halt. Todd Adams, president of Sanitube, a stainless steel tubing supplier, is currently preparing for the worst.

Thanks to high costs and economic uncertainty, more eateries and bars, like Leyenda in Brooklyn, are closing.

Firms with fewer than 10 people let workers go at the highest rate in February. Those businesses are more exposed to quick economic changes.

One issue: Managing the cost of repaying COVID-era loans that they took out to survive in 2020 and 2021.

“It feels like it’s been psychological torture,” said Daniella Velazquez de León, general manager of Organics Unlimited.

Though some proposed tariffs on Canadian imports have been delayed, business owners near the border are preparing for cost increases

This winter, Manu Powers of Sea Quest Hawaii dealt with low staffing and high surf advisories.