Just 3 customers in store at once: Boise-area businesses scramble to survive coronavirus
Earlier this month, North End Organic Nursery closed its doors as its staff tried to figure out how best to cope with the coronavirus pandemic.
The Garden City shop reopened Tuesday after deciding to let customers browse plants and make purchases by appointment only. That let the nursery control the number of people inside and outside the store.
Across the Treasure Valley, businesses are struggling to come to terms with the head-spinning changes wrought by the pandemic.
First — on March 11, just over two weeks ago, which seems like eternity now — came the postponement of the Treefort Music Festival. Two days later came news of Idaho’s first coronavirus case. On March 19 came Boise Mayor Lauren McLean’s order closing bars and restaurants except for drive-thru, takeout and delivery. And Wednesday, Gov. Brad Little ordered Idahoans to stay home for 21 days and directed non-essential businesses — including gyms, fitness studios, hair and nail salons, dine-in restaurants, bars and entertainment venues — to close.
Some already hard-hit businesses, such as hotels, bars and restaurants, have made painful layoffs costing thousands of Treasure Valley workers their jobs. Some business tenants are asking their landlords for temporary relief.
Some businesses, like North End Organic Nursery, are trying new ways to serve customers without violating official orders or the new, 6-feet-apart social-distancing norms.
Some, like supermarket chains and home-improvement stores, have enjoyed booming business because of the virus.
Some, like giant Micron Technology Inc., are bolstering the coming $1,200 federal coronavirus checks to taxpayers with bonuses — Micron is giving $1,000 apiece to all workers who earn under $100,000 a year, about two-thirds of its workforce — or combat pay, like Albertsons’ temporary $2 hourly raises or Fred Meyer’s and Walmart’s one-time $300 payments for store workers.
And all are striving to survive the crisis.
No children or dogs, and just 3 people at a time inside
Business at the North End nursery isn’t what it normally is this time of year, but the staff of 15 is happy they’re able to stay open. The store is open shortened hours seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“It was a little rough around the edges at first, but we worked out a system where we have people guarding the doors, and we’re not allowing children or dogs,” Alyson Burleigh, the store’s general manager, said by phone.
The store at 3777 W. Chinden Blvd. is allowing three people at a time inside the store and 10 people at the outdoor display area.
Customers can spend 15 minutes inside the store and 30 in the outside area behind the store.
“It’s definitely not the spring we’d like to have, but we’re not lacking in business,” Burleigh said. “People are just so happy we’re here. They’re trapped at home, and they’d really like to garden.”
Three other longtime Boise nurseries, Edwards, Franz Witte and Farwest are also offering curbside service.
“We do not have any COVID-19 cases at this time and plan on staying that way,” Franz Witte said on its website. “We will use social distancing here in the garden center as well as on job sites as much as possible; even the flamingos on our lawn are 6 feet apart.”
Print shop, shipping business down
On Eagle Road, southbound afternoon traffic is typically packed in front of the PostNet printing and shipping company at 3327 N. Eagle Road. On Thursday afternoon, there were only a few cars driving down the street.
Erich Harfmann, who has owned the franchised shop since 2014, watched his business slow to a trickle in the past week.
“I’ve had people in here today, but nothing compared to my normal daily business,” Harfmann said by phone.
Because his shop ships packages for customers, it is considered an essential business. But Harfmann is not sure a lot of people know he’s open. Or maybe they just don’t have printing or shipping needs right now.
“A lot of my shipping business is repeat customers, and they’re not getting out,” he said.
He prints home sales flyers for real estate agents and other small businesses with marketing needs. That business, he said, has evaporated.
Little’s office announced Thursday afternoon that real estate agents would be allowed to show houses, after saying the opposite hours before.
Harfmann said he hopes some of that business will return. Meanwhile, he said he is crafting a letter to his landlord asking to work out an arrangement to temporarily pay less rent or make it up later.
Drive-in plans to open, then cancels
Giving moviegoers with cabin fever a chance to enjoy “Onward” from the safety of their vehicles, Parma Motor-Vu drive-in had planned to open for the season Friday, March 27.
Most indoor theaters in the Treasure Valley closed the previous week.
Speaking Wednesday before the governor’s order, Karen Cornwell — whose father built Parma Motor-Vu in 1953 — wasn’t sure what to expect. Would carloads of stir-crazy Idahoans and Oregonians line up at the 5-acre drive-in?
“We don’t know,” Cornwell, 82, admitted with a laugh. Either way, she was going to work inside the snack bar preparing takeout food with younger employees, as orders were fulfilled outside.
Parma Motor-Vu was short-staffed, she said, because a few workers didn’t want to risk exposure.
“Some people say, ‘Oh, you’re going to be so busy,” Cornwell said. “Some people say, ‘I don’t know …’ We don’t know. We just hope we get through it.”
An hour later, Cornwell phoned back to say that Parma Motor-Vu would not open. Little’s order closed entertainment venues. Nor would it host an Easter service next month, which had been in the works.
“It’s probably overkill,” Cornwell said, referring to the governor’s order. “I’m not happy with it, of course. I don’t know. You feel like you have to roll with the compliance. I was actually a little bit nervous about the weekend, and I suddenly thought, ‘Well, you don’t have to be nervous anymore!’ ”
Restaurant lays off workers as eat-in diners disappear
A couple of miles west of the North End nursery, Barrelhouse Pub & Grill is trying to survive by providing meals for pickup or delivery.
Miller and Alex DeLuca bought Barrelhouse in December. They added live music and hired new workers as business at the restaurant at Glenwood Street and Chinden Boulevard took off.
“We were doing really well, and the coronavirus just shut everything down,” co-owner Jerry Miller said. by phone. He ticked off closures nearby: “They shut Expo Idaho down. They shut The Revolution (Concert House) down. They shut Memorial Stadium down.”
After those venues closed, business dropped from $20,000 a weekend to $3,000, Miller said.
“We had no choice,” Miller said. “We don’t carry enough capital to be able to pay everybody.”
He hopes the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill that Congress just passed and President Donald Trump signed will deliver financial help to businesses like his.
“I don’t have a ton of money built up in case a pandemic comes along,” Miller said.
Without diners to stay and eat, the restaurant has less need for servers. Barrelhouse has laid off 24 of its 31 employees, Miller said by phone.
He hopes for a swift return to normalcy.
“As soon as this blows over, we’ll hire everybody back as fast as we can,” he said.
Business Editor David Staats contributed.
