On Sunday we looked at the measures downtown business proprietors are making during the COVID-19 stay at home order. In Part 2, those shop owners look to an uncertain future.
By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Mired in the economic doldrums caused by the COVID-19 pandemic downtown Bowling Green business proprietors are facing the uncertainty of what awaits on the other side.
“I don’t see it changing at least through August,” said George Strata, owner of Call of the Canyon and Beckett’s Burger Bar. He’s making do with pick up and delivery, but that doesn’t make up for an empty restaurant.
Much depends on what kind of aid package comes out of Washington. “The help from the government is supposed to be coming,” he said. “It’s not fast.”
Still Strata is leery of borrowing money. “My plan is to keep as current as possible. I don’t want to owe it down the line. I don’t want to dig myself a deeper hole.”
Downtown had been anticipating bouncing back after extensive road and construction that stretched over two years, and disrupted business. Now they are just trying to hold on.
“My business was already struggling after two years of construction, so I am certainly concerned about the future,” Kati Thompson, owner of the Eden Fashion Boutique, wrote in an email. “But I’m optimistic. I’m encouraged by the community’s support for our downtown and for how my loyal customers are rallying for Eden. We have a long road of recovery ahead, but I believe it’s possible.”
Eden like other businesses is relying on online sales.
Many of the adaptations businesses are making in response to the stay-at-home order will persist even when more normal operations can resume.
Ben Vollmar, of Flatlands Coffee, said he anticipate the new delivery service, payment options, and expanded online sales are going to persist possibly for as long as the shop exists.
Looking to the future, he said: “I would be surprised if things just went right back to normal.”
There’s hope based on what’s happened in other countries that the pandemic will reach then pass its peak.
“So, there’s hope.”
Still the coronavirus will remain in the population, people are still going to be reluctant. “When we get to that point where we’re allowed to go out and hang out with other people,” Vollmar said. “I would think people aren’t going to be ready to just go out and hug all the hundreds of people they haven’t been in contact with for a while.”
Gayle Walterbach, of Coyote Beads, echoed those sentiments. “I’m hoping that we will get on our feet and that people will slowly start coming. It’s not like doors open and people will come rushing in. It’s going to be a slow gradual reopening.”
She’s fine with that. The shop hosts a number of workshops. “I have to make sure people are protected.”
Thompson, who along with Walterbach, Laura Wicks of Grounds for Thought and Stacie Banfield, of Mode Elle Boutique helped launch the Firefly Nights Summer Festivals two years ago, said she feels other downtown business owners share her sense of cautious optimism.
“We will all tighten our belts and work hard to figure this out,” Thompson said. “There is definitely a camaraderie among many of us downtown and we’re all here to help one another. There have been several messages floating around offering encouragement and ideas. I can’t say enough about the amazing entrepreneurs in Downtown Bowling Green. There’s something special there.”
And the key to keeping it that way, she said, is for customers to support those shops by buying local.
“It doesn’t go unnoticed,” she said. “I’m overwhelmed with gratitude every time an order comes through. I feel the same way when a customer walks through my doors. I know there are many options available, so I don’t take it lightly when you choose my business.”
