Shop The Block Helps Small Businesses Amid COVID-19

NORTH AUSTIN, TX —The City of Austin invite businesses to learn more about Shop the Block, a pilot program designed to help businesses during the COVID-19 public health crisis, with permitting beginning June 15 through December 15, 2020. The program gives small businesses the opportunity to apply for a 30-day permit, renewable for up to 6 months during the pilot period, where businesses can expand their operations outdoors onto their private parking lots and public sidewalks (must remain ADA compliant), as well as onto public parking spaces reserved for their establishments, for customer waiting or service.

Businesses taking part in the program must remain committed to operating safely including exercising social distancing. Shop the Block gives adjacent retail stores, restaurants and bars to sell or offer goods, food, and beverages on City streets, sidewalks, or rights of way, including city on-street parking spaces, with eligible applicants to include:

• Retail stores
• Restaurants
• Cocktail lounges, taverns & bars
• A group of retail stores, restaurants, or cocktail lounges, taverns & bars that share a private parking lot or are located on the same two blocks of a street, sidewalk, or city right-of-way

Interested applicants may use the Austin Center for Events Application. For more information, including eligibility and requirements, click HERE.