Gov. Tate Reeve’s shelter-in-place order ended Monday morning and his new “safer at home” order took effect upon its expiration, allowing the limited reopening of some retail establishments amid the economic fallout of coronavirus.
Stores around town took different approaches to opening back up after Reeves allowed a soft reopening ahead of the “safer at home” order last week.
The burden the pandemic has taken on small businesses has been immense. Rushing Shoe Shop on Presley Boulevard in McComb saw a decrease in business of about 40%, co-owner Donnie Rushing said.
Even so, the shop remains open. Customers can call the shop ahead of time to arrange a purchase or service or they can walk in as usual.
“We’ll do curbside if a customer calls, but our doors are open,” Rushing said. “We’re cleaning doors several times a day and we have hand sanitizer in the store.”
Gov. Reeves opined that allowing smaller retail establishments to open back up will reduce crowding at bigger stores like Walmart, which may help reduce transmission of coronavirus. Small businesses are working to seize that opportunity while keeping their employees and customers safe.
Across town, Alford’s Flowers owner Trisha Ray said she’s continued creating arrangements through the lockdown and kept her employees on the payroll after applying for federal small business assistance.
Customers can still pick up her beloved arrangements by curbside or delivery service. Alford’s Flowers generally offers delivery service, but Ray said it’s picked up since the state government handed down social distancing orders earlier this year.
Ray said the store is even doing contactless delivery. Their delivery drivers will call the recipient upon their arrival and leave the arrangement on their back porch or another safe location in order to reduce contact between customers and employees.
“It’s worked out great,” she said. “I think people have gotten accustomed to to-go from food places and it’s just so easy.”
While Ray applied for the federal paycheck assistance program, the money ran out before her shop received any funding. She’s hoping to receive assistance in the next round of federal funding approved by Congress that opened up Monday morning.
In the meantime, Ray and her staff are preparing for what is generally the busiest time of the year — secretaries day was last week and Mother’s Day is May 10.
“We’ll be doing lots of curbside and pick-up deliveries for Mother’s Day,” she said.
Ray said the shop has a couple of weddings scheduled and she expects more to crop up as the spring inches forward.
“We’re hanging in there,” she said.
Beauty salons were also allowed to open up on a limited basis, providing respite from the economic hardships incurred by business owners. Most of the newly jobless in Mississippi worked for these businesses that were deemed non-essential.
Blue-eyed Sisters Boutique & Salon co-owner Nicole Johns said the shop has been selling products on Facebook since the state was put under lockdown earlier this year, but she’s looking forward to offering in-person services. for now.
Johns said she applied for the federal paycheck assistance program but hasn’t heard anything back.
“We want everybody to know that we’re thankful for people who shop local and we appreciate your business,” she said.
The Vintage Hydrangea, a boutique on South Locust Street in McComb, opens Tuesday for curbside service. But there haven’t been completely shut down throughout the shelter in place order, owner Lance Gatlin said.
“What we’ve been doing is online orders and I’ve been mailing them,” he said. “If somebody wants to come in we’ll do the six-feet-apart thing.”
Gatlin said he applied for the federal paycheck protection program but haven’t received any aid. On the bright side, business hasn’t been too bad since the outbreak of the pandemic.
“It’s been pretty steady,” he said. “What we’ve sold most of is our candles and women’s purses.”
