Businesses are back open, but some didn’t survive the shutdown. Others are barely hanging on. Now, Naples is going on the offensive to save its downtown. (Credit: WINK News) Businesses are back open, but some didn’t survive the shutdown. Others are barely hanging on. Now, Naples is going on the offensive to save its downtown. To survive the last several months, some businesses got creative. For example, Cafe Milano started selling products from the kitchen to keep going. They’re counting on season and a new strategic plan to recover. “We know what was the worst; we can only do better now,” said Luca Di Falco, who owns three restaurants on Fifth Avenue. Di Falco works hard to provide for his family and is happy to see table filling again after the pandemic shut him down. “I just had a baby three months ago. I have three daughters; my wife, she was pregnant, so you know as a father, with a struggling business…” Naples Soap Company started making sanitation products, and some restaurants like The French expanded into a grocery store. “Vegetables, proteins, we sold wine out of the building,” said Eric Westheimer with The French. “Everything they could in the restaurant, honestly.” Bruce Barone, executive director of the Fifth Avenue South Business Improvement District, hopes a new marketing campaign is the recipe to recovery. “COVID has had a major impact on Fifth Avenue,” he said. “The goal of the campaign is to recognize our residents, is to recognize the people that have made it possible to get through this hard time.” Many businesses said they couldn’t have gotten through it if it weren’t for the community’s support.