Local businesses are starting to welcome customers back inside after almost two months.
The province ordered all non-essential businesses to close March 23, but it gave some of them the go-ahead to reopen Tuesday.
“People are ecstatic to get some home baking and get back in the store,” said Bob Willsey, whose Mariposa Market reopened its Back Porch Café on Friday. “We’re delighted to be back in action. It’s a good feeling.”
Willsey shut down his business shortly before the province issued the order, leaving some 75 employees out of work. As he prepares to reopen more of the store, about 17 people are working. They have access to masks and there are plastic barriers separating them from customers.
“We have a plan for how the traffic flow will go. This will be a good learning curve in the Back Porch Café,” he said, adding he hopes to have more of the store open in the first week of June. “There are still people who are more comfortable with curbside pickup.”
Mariposa Market began offering a limited selection of product for delivery or curbside pickup in mid-April.
That option works for some, but it wasn’t an ideal business model for local artists. Brian Tosh, founder of Peter Street Fine Arts, an artist collective, reopened the gallery on Tuesday.
“It felt great. We all do this because we love it,” he said. “The fact we’re able to open the door and allow people in to see the art is great. We also understand people’s safety is first and foremost.”
There is hand sanitizer available in the gallery and cleaning practices have been enhanced. Tosh is also only allowing two people in at a time to ensure physical distancing, and he’s asking those who are comfortable wearing masks to do so.
“We’re doing the best we can,” he said. “Everybody’s being very cautious and it’s going to take quite a while for everybody to feel comfortable again.”
When the gallery was closed, “it gave me a chance to get some new stuff done,” Tosh said.
“I’m trying to make a positive out of a negative.”
He also upped his promotion on social media, but when it comes to art, people prefer to see it in person before purchasing it.
The same could be said for jewelry. Town’s Jewellers doesn’t have an online shopping presence, so owner Michael Knight was eager to reopen Tuesday.
“It helps the bottom line to actually have revenue coming in again,” he said. “I had to remind myself how to do some things, but it’s been going well. The customers have been great.”
He is allowing up to three people in the shop at a time. He has plastic barriers up to keep staff and customers safe and has provided masks to staff. Face shields are on the way.
Since Tuesday, Knight has noticed a difference on the main street.
“Our streets were dead. It’s kind of nice to see people out again,” he said.
The COVID-19 pandemic posed a particular challenge for newer businesses.
The Refillery District has been open for almost two years. When the pandemic hit, the owners had to get creative, and quickly. Tyler Knight and Allie Fry didn’t have an online ordering option, but that soon changed.
“We were ready and we were quick to adapt. It was basically like building a new business overnight, though. This is sort of the nudge we needed to get that up and going,” Fry said, noting the move to online earned the business some new customers.
As an essential service selling groceries, the Refillery District could have kept its doors open the whole time, but the owners felt curbside pickup was “a safer option for staff and customers,” said Knight.
For the same reason, they have chosen to stick with strictly curbside pickup for now.
“There is the chance of a second wave,” Knight said. “To switch to being open and then back to online, there would be a loss of revenue.”
“They’re actually happy that our doors are staying closed to the public,” Fry said of customers, “because a lot of people aren’t ready to go out yet. We’re just grateful that we can continue to serve our community and stay open.”
