Readers say not all open Boise-area businesses are providing ‘essential’ services
Hardware isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of RC Willey, the furniture store chain.
But that’s the exemption cited as justification for the Utah company’s Meridian store to remain open in light of Gov. Brad Little’s coronavirus pandemic stay-at-home order.
Idaho Statesman readers have written to ask why certain businesses, including RC Willey, are still operating in light of Little’s order last week for Idahoans to stay home for 21 days. They’ve read the list of businesses exempted from the order and don’t believe some that have stayed open qualify.
Managers and owners beg to differ.
Here’s what we learned about four such businesses and one political-campaign office that readers challenged:
RC Willey
“Our sales on freezers and refrigerators have spiked during this time as people are buying food and different things,” RC Willey store manager Jon Jensen in Meridian said by phone. “It’s just as essential as any other hardware store would be, like a Lowe’s or Home Depot that are also selling appliances and staying open.”
Owned by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., RC Willey operates 12 stores in Utah, Idaho, Nevada and California. All but its two California stores remain open, though they allow customers to browse only by appointment and accompanied by store clerks.
Customers can arrange to pick up purchases at the stores or arrange for curbside delivery. RC Willey employees will not bring items into customers’ houses as they did before the pandemic.
On Saturday, the Meridian store had about 300 customers come in over an 8-hour period, Jensen said. That’s far less than a normal Saturday, when the store typically has about 3,000 people come through, he said.
Sales associates accompany customers throughout the store and sanitize refrigerator door handles, stove-tops and any other surfaces customers touch, he said.
“That still lets us take care of their essential needs while keeping everyone safe,” Jensen said.
The store is operating with about 30 employees, about 40% of its overall staff. Other workers have chosen to stay home and are being paid their full salaries for two weeks beginning Saturday, March 28.
“If things go beyond that, we’ve got other compensation lined up for up to a month,” Jensen said.
RC Willey qualifies as an essential business under Little’s order, said David Miles, chief of staff to Meridian Mayor Robert Simison. The order allows businesses to stay open if they supply household consumer products or products that allow people to work from home.
The Meridian Police Department responds to complaints about possible violations of the order, Miles said by email.
“Generally, MPD has found that businesses continuing to operate in Meridian are doing so because they provide goods or services deemed ‘essential’ as that term is defined in the order,” Miles said. “Businesses not providing ‘essential’ services have closed, or have moved to an online or remote-work platform where possible.”
The Idaho Attorney General’s Office advises Idahoans who believe someone is violating the stay-at-home order to contact local authorities, city police, country sheriff’s office or Idaho State Police, depending on the circumstances.
The governor, the Attorney General’s Office and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare don’t have authority to enforce Little’s order, the AG’s Office said in an online list of questions and answers.
A Meridian hair-removal clinic
Dr. Brian Kerr, a Boise anesthesiologist who specializes in cosmetic medicine, asked why Ideal Image, a Meridian clinic that provides hair-removal services and Botox injections, is still open.
“Ideal Image is a Medspa providing nonessential aesthetic treatments” Kerr wrote. “In no way shape or form are they providing any type of medically necessary treatments and are abusing the claim that they are exempt from the statewide closure of all nonessential businesses.”
A receptionist at Ideal Image, 2951 E. Overland Road, said she would have a supervisor return the Statesman’s call. No one called back.
Little’s list of essential services includes “clinics.” It doesn’t explain what makes a clinic essential, and Little’s office did not reply to a request for clarification. But Miles, from the city of Meridian, said Ideal Image qualifies for the clinic exemption.
Capital City Farmers Market
Boise resident Karen Monier wrote that she loves the Capital City Farmers Market but questions its plans to open in April, given the pandemic.
The market plans to open at a yet-to-be-determined date and location, General Manager Mona Warchol said by phone.
The market’s home at 8th and Idaho streets is not available because of the pandemic. The market is seeking a location to help farmers sell produce — arts and crafts will not be a part of the market until after the coronavirus situation subsides — while preventing a party atmosphere with large crowds.
“When you’re on Idaho and 8th Street, it’s close to impossible to control entrance and exit,” she said. “So picture a lot with a fence around it and then 20 booths spread out. We would just let people in to go get their stuff and come right back out.”
The city of Boise and the Central District Health Department would have to sign off on the market’s plan before it opens, she said. That will ensure the market is as safe as possible in trying to prevent the coronavirus from spreading, she said.
“Farmers are important to us right now,” Warchol said. “We’re just going to try and be an option like the fruit stands for people to buy their fruits and vegetables.
The Boise Farmers Market, which uses the old Kmart parking lot at 1500 Shoreline Drive for its weekly market, had planned to open April 4, but has postponed it.
Tamara Cameron, manager for the Boise Farmers Market, said in an email the market had planned to announce its plans soon. On Thursday morning, its website said the market is “postponed until further notice.”
Texas Roadhouse
Boise resident Anna Sorrells asked why Texas Roadhouse and other Meridian restaurants were allowed to serve diners inside the restaurant given the governor’s order.
A woman who answered the phone Tuesday at the Meridian Texas Roadhouse denied that the restaurant is allowing diners to eat inside. She said the restaurant is accepting online orders and said people have been coming to Texas Roadhouse to pick up their orders.
A candidate for the Idaho Legislature
Jason Herbert asked why Jeff Gabica, Democratic candidate for Seat 19B in the Idaho House, has been staffing his campaign office on Main Street in downtown Boise.
Gabica said by phone that he is working at home but that his campaign manager, Lucas Anorak Neill, continues to work at the office, which is closed to the public.
“We’re conducting only the essential business required by a campaign for a primary candidate who will be elected in seven weeks,” Anorak Neill said.
Volunteers calling potential voters are doing so from their own homes, Anorak Neill said. Campaign cell phones are dropped off at the office and traded for ones that have been sanitized. Social distancing is observed.
Have you seen a business that is open but isn’t providing essential services? Provide a tip to reporter John Sowell at jsowell@idahostatesman.com.
This story was originally published April 2, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
