Local businesses are the heartbeat of the city, providing jobs, diversions, products and services to locals and visitors alike. And while change is constant in business and the cycle of openings and closings can sometimes hide the bigger picture, business trends can help to measure the pulse of the city.
So Hoodline analyzed data from Yelp to see which Boston business categories are gaining ground in the past month, which are on the decline, and what areas of the city may be seeing changes in the local business landscape.
After seeing declines earlier in the year, it seems to have been a positive month for Boston's traditional American dining establishments, with three new Yelp pages created in that category. That's a 1.1 percent rate of growth for that type of operation. (Boston already boasts 270 traditional American restaurants.)
For comparison, the total number of retail and service businesses grew 0.9 percent citywide in the same time period, while total dining options in the city grew 1.5 percent, again based on the rate of business pages created vs. pages marked as "closed" on Yelp.
New business pages also show an upward trend for contractors and rehabilitation centers, based on a month-over-month analysis of Yelp data.
One new traditional American business page appeared in downtown Boston and in the North End over the past month. The latter neighborhood now boasts 10 such businesses, according to Yelp's count.
While traditional American led in overall business growth, you may also have more choices for vegetarian food than you did a month ago, by Yelp's latest count.
Some business categories jumped many percentage points. For instance, sex therapists increased 100 percent in the past month. But that's due to the addition of just one business page, bringing the total to two. Gay bars saw more notable growth, adding three business pages for a 25 percent increase. The greater number of initial businesses means the percentage growth is less likely to be a fluke in the data.
Business closures are a fact of life. But just which types of businesses saw net declines over the past month, based on Yelp data?
Pages for keys and locksmiths slipped the most in Boston, with two businesses marked as "closed" on Yelp, including Pinckney Locksmith Masters Co. Pages for real estate services also saw declining numbers last month.
On the gastronomic side of things, new American and Chinese cuisines posted overall losses as well.
Just as some neighborhoods are more residential, while others have a more commercial flavor, business openings and closings do not happen evenly across the city. We calculated the net change in new Yelp pages created vs. deleted or marked "closed" to get a handle on which Boston neighborhoods saw the largest relative gains and losses in commercial establishments of all types.
In the past month, South Boston experienced the city's largest net loss of businesses, according to Yelp page counts. Total business pages for the neighborhood fell by 15 overall. Meanwhile, downtown Boston led the city's neighborhoods with a net gain of 11 newly created business pages across categories.
Want to keep up with Beantown's local business news? Check out recent stories from Hoodline:
- The four best diners in Boston
- Here are the three freshest new businesses to launch in Boston
- Seafood and more: What's trending on Boston's food scene?
