Coronavirus challenges local businesses

Yesterday was a harbinger of problems to come…dozens of emails announcing temporary closures and event cancellations due to the coronavirus, COVID-19.  People are rightly taking precautions, including limiting going to crowded places.  Others are beginning to curtail activities of daily life, such as going to restaurants, shopping for non-essential items, or visiting their local yoga or fitness studio.  These moves make sense….but they will have a tremendous impact on our local small businesses.  How long can a restaurant operate with only a couple of tables filled at each meal?

We know our restaurants are taking many precautions, and quite a few have already sent emails to their loyal clientele describing their sanitation measures.  Please read these emails, and continue to patronize restaurants and carry outs as you feel comfortable with.  If you don’t want to be in a public dining room, perhaps you can order meals for pickup and delivery from local restaurants.

There will be a severe downturn in consumer expenditures for the next few weeks.  Please help your neighborhood businesses stay alive until we come out the other end of the tunnel on this crisis by patronizing them for whatever consumer goods and services you are still buying.  Our local businesses are what keep the neighborhood fun and charming.  Let’s make sure they make it through the next few weeks!