Restaurants and stores continue to open with safety plans in place
John Larson, owner of The Warehouse, said his customers have been excited to be out. “We’ve done everything we need to to make sure our customers feel comfortable dining with us. We have the big patio to use and we make sure to keep the social distancing in place.” He also added partitions between booths and staff is sanitizing often. (Submitted)
The day many people have waited for finally arrived – restaurants are open for inside dining and small, non-essential businesses continue to open with plenty of safeguards in place to protect the public.
Gary Sorrell, owner of Sorrell’s on the Square, said his business was closed from March 16 until May 26. “We did limited meals for takeout the last few weekends, but we aren’t really set up as a carry out business.” Sorrell said the restaurant industry already had the strictest guidelines for cleanliness and he is proud of how clean his staff keeps the restaurant. “We sanitize even more than we usually do, and we added dispensers of foam hand sanitizer throughout the restaurant for people to use.”
Sorrell said he also added glass partitions between the booths. “I wanted something that looked like it had always been here and these do. Before we reopened, I had the health department visit to make sure we were following everything we needed to be doing and he said we were above and beyond, so I feel good about that.”
While his customers have not been nervous about eating out, Sorrell said that, outside of his business, he has heard other people say they plan on waiting a while before going out to eat. “Many of them have underlying conditions, so they are playing it safe.”
John Larson, owner of The Warehouse, said his customers have been excited to be out. “We’ve done everything we need to to make sure our customers feel comfortable dining with us. We have the big patio to use and we make sure to keep the social distancing in place.” He also added partitions between booths and staff is sanitizing often.
Lisa Cutshall and her husband, Mike, visited The Warehouse soon after it opened. “I was just happy to be somewhere where I didn’t have to cook!” said Lisa. “The servers did a great job of taking precautions and the food tasted great.”
Jonathon and Heather Gray visited the restaurant the day it opened. “We weren’t nervous at all,” said Heather. “I think they used every precaution they could. There are tables you can’t sit at to keep the social distance and plexiglass between the booths.”
Mike and Laurie Celeschi have also visited The Warehouse. “We ate inside. We weren’t nervous at all. The food was great, and the service was awesome.”
Mint Ivy Boutique closed its doors on March 15 and reopened on May 16. Owner Kayla Miller said customers kept them busy with online orders while the store was closed. “I shipped everything or delivered to local people. Since we have reopened, I can’t thank our amazing following enough as they have been in and the business is flourishing even better than before we had to close. The support people have shown to small businesses getting through this time has been unbelievable and heartwarming.”
To follow state guidelines, the store has a limit of 10 people allowed in at one time and the staff sanitizes everything during the day. There are also social distancing stickers on the floor to help encourage customers to keep their distance. “We also have curbside pick up if someone wants to order but not come in the store. They can call the store and we will bring it out. We are all wearing masks, too.”
Mint Ivy Boutique also has a special event the first Friday of each month. “It’s always different. There is a special and we have snacks or drinks or an activity to go along with the special.
Jessica Schlabach plans to visit the boutique this week. She said she is excited about going in but, she plans to wait until the store is empty before going in and will wear a mask. She works with people with disabilities and has small children, so wearing the mask is to protect them.
Jessie Bates, owner of Bexley Ann’s Boutique, said she closed before she was told she had to close because she wasn’t sure how dangerous the virus was and she babysits her granddaughter. “Luckily, I already had an online site set up before all this happened so my customers starting using it. At first, I was shipping everything, but as restrictions lifted, I started curbside pick up.”
Bates said her online shopping “blew up” during this time and she got some new customers. “I reopened the day we were allowed with limited days, but realized people are back out and ready to shop so I added Tuesday, too.” She is limiting her customers to five at a time and has sanitizer available for her customers. “I spray and wipe down everything between customers. I feel most people are excited to be out but I’m still getting a lot of online orders as well.”
Kristy Schonauer has visited the store several times since its reopening. “I was so glad to be able to go. I wasn’t worried at all about shopping. I also think it’s really important to support our local businesses as much as possible.”
Category: Business
