Posts by Carl Bialik

How the Coronavirus Pandemic Has Affected Local Businesses Around the Country

Business closures and rapid consumer reaction to the public-health threat added up to several hurricanes worth of local economic upheaval across the U.S.

Yelp: Coronavirus Economic Impact Report

Consumers are responding to fears of infection, social distancing recommendations, stay-at-home orders, and mandated business closures by changing their behavior around eating, shopping, planning their finances, managing their homes, new…

Local Economies’ 2019 Slump Looks Likely to Continue, According to Yelp’s Economic Average

Most local economies nationwide slumped in 2019, according to Yelp data, dragged down by weakness in restaurants and retail. As the local economy goes, so goes the national economy. The…

California’s Urban Centers Are Stagnating, According to Yelp’s Economic Average

Yelp’s Economic Indicator Is Up By 0.07% Nationally, A Possible Signal Of GDP Growth  Yelp’s measure of the strength of local economies nationwide shows a modest rebound in the third…

Yelp Celebrates 15 Years of Connecting People with Great Local Businesses Through a Look Back at Trends and the Launch of Yelp15.com

Yelp Data Identifies Five Boomtowns Around The Country, Amid Sluggish Economy

Milwaukee. Honolulu. Portland, Maine. Memphis. Louisville. These five cities anchor metro areas with the country’s strongest combination of business growth and consumer demand, according to the Yelp Economic Average —…

The Yelp Economic Average Uncovers Possible Ride-sharing Effect: Auto Businesses Slump in First Quarter of 2019

The people who power the local economy started the year on the right foot. The Yelp Economic Average rose by eight tenths of a point in the first quarter of…

Yelp’s One-Of-A-Kind Businesses

Ben Silver is a magician. Ben Silver is a sommelier. Ben Silver is one of a kind. There may be other Americans who operate a magic business and also operate…

The Yelp Economic Average Uncovers Early Signs of Economic Slowdown

[hoops name=”custom-YEA-header”] From sandwich makers to sporting-goods sellers, business sectors throughout the economy are slumping, according to Yelp data. Most U.S. businesses are small businesses. How are they doing? Until…

After the Midterms, Let’s All Take a Hike

We keep reading that the U.S. is more divided than ever politically. And that may be so. But even if all politics is local, not all local is politics. When…

Restaurant Ratings On Yelp Are Remarkably Consistent, No Matter Who’s Writing Them, When, And Where

This post originally appeared on the Yelp Data Science Medium blog, Locally Optimal. Some of my friends who rely on Yelp reviews are amazed at the variety of opinions: Many…

From Hawaii to the Heartland: Poke’s journey from local favorite to food craze to national staple

First, poke was a Hawaiian favorite. Then the raw-fish dish journeyed to the heartland and everywhere else around the nation, quickly and dramatically. Lately, its trajectory has flattened, but poke…