FROM THE FRONT LINES Costume shop owners share post-pandemic tales By Kathleen Furore
As stores slowly reopen across the country, costume businesses are reflecting on the challenges they’ve faced during the past few months while doing all they can to get sales moving once again. An NCA member survey in mid-May revealed that almost everyone had experienced a tremendous loss of business since the March shut down. “In fact, it was surprising to see that 10 percent of the respondents actually had business that was the same as before,” says Ed Avis, the NCA’s executive director, who noted that only 20 percent of survey respondents hadn’t been forced to lay off staff. Here, NCA members Caren Bricker, owner of Vintage Ooollee in Augusta, Georgia; Janine Caufield, an owner of Caufield’s in Louisville, Kentucky; and Helen Goncalves from Metro Boutique in Portland, Oregon, offer an inside look at how their businesses are rebuilding and what they predict lies ahead. (Comments are from an NCA webinar held May 28 and have been edited for space and clarity.) THE COSTUMER: WHAT ARE SOME SAFETY MEASURES YOU’VE PUT IN PLACE? Goncalves: Our sales are final for anything for the face like wigs or sunglasses and we limit how much people can touch things—we put that stuff in the back of the store. Bricker: We wear masks, we request our customers to wear masks. We have marks on the floor, we have hand sanitizer. The other thing I was concerned about—because I sell vintage clothing and rent costumes—was, ‘What do I do with the clothes that people have tried on?’ I spoke with someone and what we came up with was I’m steaming them because they say that a certain temperature and humidity will kill the virus and that was the best resolution I could come up with. I have a rack for everybody to return anything that is tried on so we can be sure we steam those items. I would do it right away. The only reason I would postpone it would be because I was busy helping other people. Caufield: Before we opened up, we had to submit a proposal to the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and we had to ensure that we took care of our employees and our customers. So every day, at the back door before our employees come in, I have to take their temperature. They are required to wear a mask when we have customers in the building. We have hand sanitizers throughout the whole building. There are no exchanges, no refunds. If someone comes in without a mask, I have one there for them…there’s a sign on the door, but if they feel like they don’t want to, I’m not going to be the police and say you’ve got to put a mask on. We require the six feet [of social distancing], which we’ve got marked on the floor, and we have the plastic for the cashier register. If anybody touches the keypad with their credit card or anything, [employees] automatically wipe the counter down before the next transaction.
The Costumer: What about makeup? Caufield: I have a makeup artist who handles [demos] in a very sterile way. We have Q-tips and pads and we do not let the customers double dip. We have sample boards, but we don’t have them where customers can get to them. If they’re interested in makeup, we can get it out for them and we get little Q-tips and let them try it on. We’ve always done that— there’s not been a change. Goncalves: We have removed all testers and, unfortunately, we are no longer allowing anybody to test the makeup. Bricker: I follow the same lines that Janine does…no double dipping allowed. I keep the makeup, the samples, behind the counter, so we have to pull them out for people to see. I usually do the makeup demo, so I’m controlling it.
Vintage Ooollee’s t-shirt design for the “We Give a Shirt” campaign COSTUMERS.ORG
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JUNE/JULY 2020
