Main Street comes back to life, but future uncertain for businesses

By Cory L. Higgs

“My business was severely impacted by the shutdown. I decided to shut The Suites down from online booking, which is an integral part of my business,” Marsh said. She noted that she was only scheduling guests with previous stays in the suites to limit any potential spread and ensure only the regulars were coming by.

Of those regulars, she said many cut their stay short or canceled altogether. Marsh said she wasn’t directly limited by the governor’s order, but she scaled back to ensure everything was continually sanitized and to reduce her occupancy. She said she has turned down a few reservations as she isn’t prepared to open up full steam yet. Marsh added many guests are out of towners or even international travelers, and she wanted to limit any potential changes that may arise.

“My biggest concern for the future is that this area, already on a tenuous footing, will have a serious set-back economically,” she said adding, “I hope that the ‘American Can-Do spirit’ will win over the nay-sayers and those that have a negative outlook for this area and our economic possibility.”

Near the beginning of the pandemic, proprietor Sadie Ayers of Main Street’s newest business Leonardo’s Pizzeria & Bistro said that she feared she would have to furlough her employees and was unsure of her business future.

Two months in and with re-opening on the horizon, she said,” we will continue to keep it take-out only until the restrictions are over. Our dine-in area is just too small,” to accommodate social distancing guidelines.

Many restaurants have experienced financial hits, however much of the business transferred from eat-in to delivery and dine-out

Because of the pizzeria’s placement on Main Street, outside seating would be impossible, leaving Ayers with few options. Ayers said she is thankful for the community support her restaurant has received in these trying times.

Wren Williams, of Schneider & Williams, P.C., said two months ago that while the legal world doesn’t stop for a virus, it does change. He had sent his employees home to continue their work and continued to do as much as possible as teleconferencing. Now, Williams said the business has slowed down.

“All the courts closed and continued their cases. That has been pretty hard on our business. We’ve still been able to do non-courtroom type work, but we’ve changed to all online or phone call type conferences with clients,” Williams said.

With courts reopening soon, his team is preparing for busier days; however, Williams said he plans to implement reduced hours and ‘semi-open’ hours until June or when things start to pick back up.