Pensacola Businesses Adapt to COVID-19
by Gina Castro
Businesses all across the nation have had to adapt every week, if not daily, to adhere to the protocols regarding COVID-19. On March 17, Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered that all bars and nightclubs closed immediately. Shortly thereafter, the City of Pensacola ordered all restaurants to offer only delivery and take out and for movie theatres, bowling alleys and businesses alike to close indefinitely. The City announced that events as far out as May 10 are canceled. Although the safety of the eldery and the immunocompromised are of utmost concern, local businesses, business owners and employees are struggling to keep business flowing. 22 | DOWNTOWNCROWD.COM
“We’ve been asked, as every bar and restaurant in the community has, to either shut down or completely change our business model overnight. It causes anxiety from top to bottom,” DC Reeves, owner of Perfect Plain and Garden & Grain, said. In an effort to help Pensacola businesses, the Downtown Improvement Board (DIB) partnered with businesses to offer a curbside pickup service. Businesses can be added to DIB’s curbside pickup list by emailing dibmerchants@ideaworks. co. The Pensacola Chamber of Commerce created two Facebook pages to help local businesses spread the word about what services they are able to offer during
this pandemic. The Facebook groups are Pensacola Take Out & Delivery Options Amid COVID-19 and Retail & Small Business Offers Amid COVID-19. The Mayor of Pensacola Grover Robinson announced on March 23 that he will be donating his $100,000 salary during the pandemic to the city’s sanitation department and Pensacola Energy to help those struggling to pay bills. “What I wanted to communicate to you is I’m not afraid. If I was afraid for myself, I would be doing something to retain that (salary),” Robinson said. “I’m not going to ask you to lose your salary if I’m not willing to do the same at this particular time.”
Many businesses and employees in the area are feeling the economic impact of the pandemic. Tina Crowell, the owner of Ciao Bella Boutique and Salon, said that her retail store has been dealing with COVID-19 since the beginning of January. When Crowell was told by her vendors in China that their facilities were closed due to the virus, Crowell was worried about running out of merchandise, so she bought enough merchandise from her vendors in LA to get her through April, which took a great amount of capital. “Then as the virus spread and came to the US and panic sent in, the last thing people wanted was to shop and traffic got slower,” Crowell explained. Her boutique is now closed until further notice, but her online store is available at shopthebella.com, which will be offering free shipping until May 21. “Such uncertain times for us all. However, we are proud of our town and have faith that the commu-
nity will continue to support each other,” Crowell said. The owner of Kingfisher Craft Sandwiches Brian Kaderavek said that his business saw a 75 percent drop in sales the weekend before March 23, which is the date the city ordered restaurants to do to-go orders only. “We’re really happy to be established in the year and the half that we were open before this happened because we have a lot of regulars who have been supporting us,” Kaderavek said. “We’re concerned about the staff. We’re trying to give them as many hours as possible and help them if they need to file for unemployment.” Kingfisher is offering take out for its full menu. Since Kingfisher’s sales have dropped, Kaderavek has had to make the tough decision to cut his staff by 50 percent. Kaderavek and his wife are doing their best to give their staff additional hours by having their employees renovat-
