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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A number of Louisville businesses were hanging on by a thread after taking a huge hit from the COVID-19 pandemic.

And then looters came to town. 

Typically, on a Friday nigh,t business would be booming on Fourth Street Live!, but that is not the picture today. Instead, the heart of downtown is boarded up and mostly vacant. 

"It's kind of like our shining star in our city, and it's looking pretty rough right now," said Tom Brennan, a Louisville resident. 

"It looks deserted," said Antionette Lambirth, a manager at Potbelly Sandwich Shop's downtown location. "It's sad. It's real sad." 

Lambirth said the sandwich shop is about the only business on the block that has not been targeted by looters, but that does not mean the restaurant is not feeling the effects. 

"It's just very slow since the virus and now with the protests and everything," Lambirth said. 

Because of the looting, managers at the downtown Potbelly restaurant said they are seeing even less foot traffic and are lucky if they see $1,000 a day. 

It is not just the businesses that are hurting, but the employees are too.

"Everybody needs a job to survive, and with them coming and tearing up everything, it's putting more and more people out of work," Lambirth said. "We were already out of work because of the virus and all of that."

"It just seems like it's one thing after another," said Stacy Roof, president of the Kentucky Restaurant Association. 

Roof said due to the events of 2020, it is estimated 10-12% of restaurants will not survive.

"Most operators in some surveying and polling that we've done say that they don't think they're going to be even close to profitable in the next six to nine months," Roof said. 

In the meantime, businesses are doing what they can to get by.

"We try to stick together," Lambirth said. "That's all we can do. Everybody look out for one another. Continue saying prayer, and we will get through it."

The downtown Potbelly said it is confident it will pull through, but it's unsure about what will happen to neighboring businesses.

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