‘Grateful’: Tri-Cities stores, restaurants and salons open doors with new rules
KENNEWICK – Misti Selman opened the doors to her children’s boutique in downtown Kennewick Friday morning at 11 a.m.
She put up barriers, had hand sanitizer ready and already placed the guidelines for customers on her front door.
“I’m really grateful for this new phase. It will be a good one,” she said. “I prepared for being opened weeks ago, just anticipating it would happen at some point.”
Selman’s story is similar to many of the stores, restaurants and salons around the Tri-Cities that just got news Thursday afternoon that they could open their doors with restrictions starting Friday.
Stores and salons were shut down after Gov. Jay Inslee’s stay-home order was put in place in late March in an attempt to slow the coronavirus.
While other counties have been able to move forward with opening business, Benton and Franklin county businesses have been in limbo because infection rates have not dropped.
For Selman, she expected moving her business, Sassafras Boutique, from Clearwater Avenue to downtown Kennewick would mean the best year in the business’s six-year run.
While she’s been able to do curbside delivery, it hasn’t been a replacement for having her doors open.
As soon as the news came out, Franki Anderson, of Franki and Co., and all of the stylists who work with her, started hearing from clients looking to schedule an appointment.
“We want to see everybody. They just got to be patient,” she said. “After these first few weeks, everyone will fall into their new routines.”
Anderson spent Friday putting the finishing touches at her salon before her planned reopening Tuesday. She had plans ready weeks ago when they first received guidance about what they would need to do when they reopen.
She still wants to talk about the new rules her stylists have to follow. They will be checking temperatures, and asking clients if they’ve been sick.
People also will need to schedule ahead, and will need to wait in their vehicles before their appointments.
While the early days of the closure were stressful, Anderson said the unemployment extension for independent contractors was a relief since it meant her stylists would get paid.
Tom Floyd of Barley’s Brew Hub was already serving food to people sitting outside of his restaurant on Friday. He has been running with a skeleton crew providing takeout for his patrons.
“We’ve survived. We haven’t thrived, but we survived,” he said. “It’s been an experience that I don’t ever want to have to repeat but one that I’ll never forget.”
He is asking people to wear masks when they come into the restaurant, and is having people wear masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment.
“After three and a half months, I would get my guys hazmat suits if I thought it would get us open,” he said. “It’s a relief that we can possibly be seeing the end of it. It’s a relief to be able to open and have people in the seats.”
The extended closure has given him a chance to turn competitors into friends. The struggle that all of the small businesses have been going through has brought them together, he said.