Business owners and employees are cautiously optimistic about the reopening of the state and getting back to work.
Robb Street in Summit, home to a number of mom-and-pop businesses, had been a virtual ghost town since Gov. Tate Reeves signed the shelter-in-place executive order that went into effect on April 3 and expired April 29, replaced by a new “safer at home” order, which relaxed restrictions, opening up non-essential businesses that had been closed.
Suzanne Womble, the manager of The Village Florist said the store partially opened back up last week and has since resumed full operations.
“We took it slow the first week that we reopened, but this week we are back to full hours and full staff,” she said.
Womble said the store still handled funerals and other small orders during the shutdown.
“The boss and I worked pretty much every day,” Womble said. “We would come in and do paperwork or special orders for maybe a couple hours a day.”
Though restrictions are lifting across the state, Womble said it is understandable for people to be wary about coming back to regular habits. She said people have come in wearing masks and have kept their distance, which she said is good for the safety of not only the shoppers but employees as well.
“We’ve been good,” Womble said. “Our loyals have been really good to us.”
Womble said the quarantine has left people aching to go back to some sense of normalcy, so business has picked back up already.
“Customers are ready to shop, and we’ve been busy with florals and gifts,” she said. “People are ready to get out.”
Across the street at Wizard Electronics, Eric Hightower said he hadn’t noticed a shift in traffic as of Monday but expected to see an uptick in customers.
“Business is great,” Hightower said. “We had a lot of police cars, fire trucks and ambulances scheduled to be worked on, so that was kind of what carried us through the slow times.
“As far as business goes, business is really good right now to be just partially open.”
Hightower said the shop has done surprisingly well despite the pandemic. He said the last week has been “better than tax season,” possibly because of the stimulus checks people have received, mixed with the possiblity that some have also received tax refunds.
During the shutdown, he closed the store to the public and only handled projects for government agencies such as fire and police departments, but on Monday he propped the door open and allowed three people in at a time.
Hightower said the store continues to follow the guidelines set out by the state and the CDC, and he cleans the moment customers leave the store.
“I’m not letting anybody wait,” Hightower said. “They come in, I get a work order, and I disinfect the store right after they leave.”
