ORLANDO, Fla. — Virtually in the shadow of the Orange County Convention Center on International Drive, you’ll find Pointe Orlando, a tourist magnet of shops, restaurants, and entertainment venues.

You’ll find For the Road, a boutique for collectors of die-cast cars, with so many little automobiles that you wonder if the store could drive away on its own.

You’ll find WonderWorks, a self-proclaimed “indoor amusement park for the mind,” whose facade makes the building appear as though it had been tossed upside down.

You’ll also find Tharoo & Co., a family-owned and -operated jewelry store whose owner describes his business world over the past year in the way all of us see WonderWorks.

“Year to date, about a 70- to 75% drop” in revenue, says Abdul Tharoo, founder of the company that he runs with his son.

Tharoo points to the coronavirus pandemic and, more specifically, to the Orange County Convention Center, the lifeline for Pointe Orlando, Tharoo & Co., and virtually all business in their environs.

Tharoo estimates that the Convention Center drives 80% of business traffic in a two-mile radius.

“Easily,” he says.

The massive two-building facility has seen more than 70 convention cancellations since mid-March of last year, with estimated economic effects of $1.8 billion, according to the Convention Center website.

That could be changing, as a busy past weekend at the facility suggests.

In the meantime, the effects continue to be devastating for businesses, starting with hotels, that depend directly on its activity.

“It was a sudden drop as soon as the hotels closed down,” Tharoo told Spectrum News 13. “In May last year, everything went to zero.”

A recent weekday afternoon illustrated his point. Pointe Orlando’s brick-covered courtyard featured plenty of signs that trumpeted businesses and free parking but no customers to read them or to park. At least one retail shop stood vacant.

One shopper joined a reporter in Tharoo’s store and tried on a couple of watches.

The shopper, Thomas King of Daytona Beach, said he could relate to Tharoo.

“It’s hard enough for malls and shopping centers as it was,” King said, referring to the time before the pandemic hit. “Now it’s completely horrifying for people.”

Asked if he has seen any signs of a pickup in business, Tharoo said late last month, “so far we haven’t seen anything.”

Several hundred feet away, iFLY Orlando counted itself as an exception to business activity in the Convention Center District. Two people floated inside a skydiving simulator as four customers waited their turn.

“We’re actually almost busier than we were before,” manager Riley Murray told Spectrum News 13.

Business had been slower until November or December, when the company saw a surge, she said.

“We just think everybody’s kind of tired of being stuck inside,” Murray said. Amid capacity limitations during the pandemic, she said, “everything we’ve had open has been sold out.”

Not so elsewhere.

Tharoo and his family started their business about three decades ago in downtown Orlando. The business now has four full-time employees and, during the pandemic, relies on savings the family had put aside “for a rainy day,” Tharoo said.

“We’re hoping” that business returns to normal “and we won’t run out of funding,” he said about two weeks ago.

It all starts with the Orange County Convention Center, which this past weekend signaled a rebound with four events: the Orlando Boat Show, the AAU Volleyball Classic, the All Star Challenge cheerleading event, and the Sunshine Volleyball Classic. The latter continues Monday and next weekend.

Convention center Executive Director Mark Tester called it the facility’s “busiest weekend post-pandemic” and said the four events generated economic effects of $35 million.

“Our parking lots were really full, a lot of activity, and we continue to see that,” Tester said Monday at an Orange County coronavirus news briefing at the convention center. “We’re really optimistic about the summer, and then the fall, for the Convention Center.”

Once the Convention Center builds momentum, Tharoo said, “I’m sure the hotels will get momentum, too, and that usually brings us” business, “because our business is 95% dependent on tourism and the Convention Center.”