By Daniel Van Oudenaren
The long wait is finally over for ‘non-essential’ retailers and dine-in restaurants reeling from a shutdown lasting well over a month: they now have permission to reopen.
Though the City of Austin had ordered such businesses to stay closed through May 8, the governor overrode that directive and issued his own orders allowing operations at 25% capacity starting May 1.
But a big question remains: When will the customers come back?
Maria Aguirre, who runs Benold’s Jewelers on West Anderson Lane, opened her doors at 11 a.m. She told me that I was the first person to come knocking when I arrived shortly before noon – other than one customer who had dropped off items for repair.
Still, Aguirre had two appointments scheduled with couples later in the day, and she was hopeful that business would return: “Love isn’t cancelled. Birthdays aren’t cancelled. Anniversaries are still there. Babies are being born.”
To stay safe from the virus, Aguirre and her two employees are cleaning surfaces, wearing masks, and wearing gloves when they handle jewelry touched by customers. The relatively spacious store felt a bit empty without customers, allowing for plenty of social distancing.
The jewelry itself is kept in display cases and is handed to customers on a tray. “They can walk around in the store, but we limit the touching,” she said.
The lockdown has been hard on the business, Aguirre said. In recent weeks she delivered some items and tried retail-to-go, after the governor issued an order allowing curbside pickups starting April 24. But sales still dropped by about 50% in March and 90% in April.
Aguirre applied for a Paycheck Protection Program loan, but it didn’t get approved before the program ran out of money. She laid off six of nine staff.
If customers don’t show up within the next few days, Aguirre says she won’t give up, but she may shift to an appointment-only model: “You can’t just give up.”
Social distancing is somewhat more challenging at Tex-Mex Joe’s, a dine-in and delivery restaurant on North Lamar Boulevard, where the dining area is just a fraction of size of the Benold’s showroom. Owner Marco Munguia opened it up anyway, for the first time since mid-March. “We just cannot seat too many people at once,” he said.
Under the 25% occupancy limit, the restaurant can only allow 12 guests inside. Munguia closed every other table and taped notices to the walls encouraging six-foot distancing.
“We’re wearing face masks. We’re following all the guidance from the health department. They gave us a list. For example, there is nothing on the tables – no salt or pepper or things like that,” he said. “Another thing is that all the time we have to be washing the handles of the doors.”
Pickup and delivery has helped Munguia’s business weather the shutdown. When I visited his restaurant at 1:00 on Friday, only one person was eating in the dining room, but Munguia was upbeat about the reopening. “Today is the first day, so actually we are not doing too bad. We had about 30 customers today, including to-gos and people sitting down.”
‘Safety is the Biggest Thing’
Not all retailers and restaurants have reopened – most, perhaps, have remained closed. Retailers at The Domain, an outdoor mall in North Austin, remained closed Friday, though a few restaurants reopened. Some diners could be seen at outdoor patios, being served by waitstaff in surgical masks.
In the downtown, on West Second Street, a few clusters of diners lounged in the afternoon sun on the patios at Jo’s Diner and Taverna. But nearby sidewalks and streets remained mostly empty, as commuters to offices downtown are mostly still staying home.
Many Austinites are still cautious about venturing forth in the midst of a pandemic, and a majority of those who do so are wearing masks – despite a state directive that prohibits local governments from imposing a fine for failing to wear one.
Quy Tran, who owns the San Francisco Bakery and Cafe on West Anderson Lane, would like to see the outbreak better contained before he reopens his indoor dining area, though he continues to fill takeout and delivery orders. “Honestly I feel it’s too early. We don’t want to put ourselves, our families, or our clients at risk,” he said.
Tran thought that it would be too hectic to manage the dining room while also wiping down surfaces, preparing food, answering the phone, and dealing with DoorDash and Postmates orders. “We have to make sure that we’re staffed adequately to be able to manage the dining room,” he said.
Sales at the cafe dropped by three-quarters in March, before recovering to about 50% in April, according to the owner. Tran applied for a PPP loan but did not hear back. He got some relief in the form of rent deferral from his landlord.
“As much as I would love to reopen the dining area, safety is the biggest thing,” he said.
Latest Case Numbers
As some businesses reopened May 1, Texas’ Department of State Health Services reported 29,229 cumulative cases of COVID-19, an increase of 1,142 from the day before. On Saturday, May 2, there were 28,087 confirmed cases, a jump of 1,292.
These are among the highest daily totals since the start of the pandemic. Yet Governor Greg Abbott has said that case numbers will not be a “decisive criteria” in making decisions on reopening the economy or reimposing restrictions, because the number of positive cases is expected to rise as testing becomes more widely available across the state.
Instead, Abbott said that stricter measures could be restored if hospitalization rates rise and the number of deaths increase. He made those remarks at a news conference April 27.
The state government has issued minimum standards for businesses that reopen. These vary depending on the type of business and are available for download from the Department of State Health Services.
The protocols for retailers and restaurants include screening employees for symptoms of illness and making available hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, or soap and water to employees and customers.
