Discussion of Small Business Survey Findings
The results of the Topanga Town Council’s latest survey make one thing clear: many Topanga small businesses are still struggling to recover from the devastating impacts of the Palisades Fire and the extended road closures that followed. The catastrophic Palisades wildfire and subsequent road closures disrupted operations and severely impacted our small business community for months. These businesses continue to have considerable unmet needs.
We ran this particular survey for approximately five weeks and did our best to advertise it widely. That said, owing to the length of time that the survey took to complete (~30 to 60 minutes), as well as many businesses’ belief that completing the survey would not necessarily result in any meaningful help or change, only about 60 businesses replied (representing between 5 and 10% of our small business population.*) However, many more businesses have privately expressed their concerns and struggles with us and others in the community.
HOW MANY SMALL BUSINESSES in TOPANGA?
Because Topanga small businesses are encouraged, but not explicitly required, to register with the County upon the start of operations, the precise number of small businesses located within the Topanga community (Zip Code: 90290) represents an estimation based on multiple factors and extrapolations. It should also be noted that several households may have a small business as a “side gig” in addition to another job or occupation. We have a large number of people in the Canyon engaged in the creative/artistic/entertainment-related professions, many of whom may work as independent contractors and/or combine multiple types of jobs into a lifestyle and livelihood.
The Topanga Chamber of Commerce has approximately 300 paying members, but many businesses within Topanga are not members of the Chamber. We also have a number of nonprofits/not-for-profits in the Canyon. All-in, we estimate that there are between 600 and 1,200 “small businesses” in the community, including those with storefronts and those without them. Some businesses exist as sole proprietors; some are partnerships, LLCs or LLPs; and others are incorporated.
ASSUMPTIONS and EXTRAPOLATIONS
The numerical data and values tallied in this survey reflect only the numbers reported by the 60 businesses who responded and not the losses and damages suffered by the 600 to 1,200 businesses that we estimate exist in the Canyon. Assuming that the 60 businesses who responded constitute a representative sample of small businesses in the Canyon-and we believe that they do– one can extrapolate the numerical results from many answers to cover the 600 to 1,200 businesses here by multiplying the results by 10 and 20 respectively to generate the full range. One of the most important questions in the survey asked business owners to report their total revenue loss from the time of the beginning of the fires (January 6, 2025) through the end of the road closure period (Memorial Day). As such, the true economic impact to the community would be approximately $30 million to $60 million in Topanga-specific small business losses for the period of January 2025 through the end of May 2025.*
Lots of other interesting findings were revealed in the data, including a marked interest in County (and private) marketing support as well as additional grant funding for those excluded from the wildfire recovery aid. If you are a small business owner and have not yet received any aid but suffered financially as a result of the protracted road closures, then this new funding may be for you.
To that end, we are working with the County (specifically, Susan Kim from the Economic Development Office and Daniell Vicente, Supervisor Horvath’s Field Deputy for our area) to develop a series of Topanga-oriented marketing webinars to help small businesses level up their marketing efforts, especially with respect to their social media usage and general web presence. The County also has created a new small business fund to support Topanga and Malibu-area businesses who suffered as a result of the extended road closures. This new pool of funds will ONLY be available to those located in Topanga and Malibu. For more information on that fund, please reach out to Daniell Vicente. We will be announcing the date of the first webinar shortly. Please stay tuned!
*EXPLANATION: This value is extrapolated from the results returned in the Financial Impact section of the survey.