Georgia businesses reopen to early success amid coronavirus pandemic
Exactly one week since Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp began reopening the state's economy, small businesses shared early success stories as customers welcomed their return. But at what cost? Business owners say only time will tell.
Video Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
BRIAN KEMP: We were successful in our efforts to protect Georgians as well as our state's health care infrastructure. With favorable data and approval from health officials, we looked at a-- we took a measured step forward by opening many shuttered businesses throughout Georgia for limited operations.
KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS: It's so surprising to me that people have such a disregard for the science and the data. I've never found the governor to be an unreasonable man, but this really defies logic for me. There will be a day when we'll get back to business as usual, and we'll be able to go to restaurants and embrace each other again. We just aren't there yet.
TIM LANCE: Hi, my name is Tim Lance. I'm in Atlanta, Georgia in the old Fourth Ward at the Bantam Pub, and we have been open truly the entirety of the time the shutdown happened. I believe was the day after St. Patrick's Day. So we started doing the delivery and pickup program. Just the severity of the business crunch that it's cost for the employees in the general market and, really, global market.
But for us, we're doing our thing locally. We thought we would get open. I've been a self starter and an entrepreneur my whole life, and it's hard for me to understand staying at home, sitting on my heels. It's a normal state of businesses to open. But the real qualifier is how safe can we keep our staff, how safe can we keep our guests? So the reality is, as long as safety is maintained and we're not getting a lot of complaints, we're complying and conforming, and we're finding out locally, through the media.
LESTER E. CROWELL, JR.: I'm Lester E. Crowell, Junior. I am the Managing Partner of Three-13 Salon, Spa, and Boutique. We've been in business for 46 years. We have a 13,000 square foot facility salon and spa with about 85 employees. When we heard that Governor Kemp said we could open Monday afternoon, we decided to call a parking lot meeting with our staff of 85. The next day at noon-- so we all met in the parking lot-- we talked about everything. When 60% of the people wanted to come back, I thought, OK, we're going to open. If we didn't have that amount of people that wanted to come back, we probably wouldn't have opened.
And it's not just about the money. They also came back because they enjoy what they do. We've got a lot of people here who've been here 30 years, and they know that their guests want to look and feel good. It's depressing to a lot of people to stay home all the time, and I think coming out, getting your hair done is a very big therapy treatment. It makes people feel a lot better. They have more confidence. And it's just-- it's a boost.
TIM LANCE: The restrictions were basically we're going to have to ask people health questions, which restaurateurs are usually not used to doing, and we're going to have to wear personal protective equipment, whether it's a mask and gloves, or whatever else the state and locals [INAUDIBLE] community deems necessary. And we're taking every effort to make a big cleaning, and really, we [INAUDIBLE] scrub the place with bleach every night and morning before we get started. So we're taking every precaution we can, but we're looking at it very optimistically.
To get involved in the reopening of the restaurant, many of the local restaurateurs were dead set against it. They're in the position that until they're advised by the government, when they can open in a safe manner-- in other words, Georgia's kind of a red state with a blue central piece here in Atlanta-- so the rest of the state's really trying to get back to work, and the Atlanta area is saying we could wait a little bit more. And I don't think there's an objection to either argument. We won't even know who is right about it until much later.
LESTER E. CROWELL, JR.: Things that we've done is as you approach the salon as a guest, we take your temperature, we ask you the four questions, have you had a fever, have you had a cough, have you been living with anyone who's been in quarantine or have you been with anyone that's had these symptoms? If all the answers are no-- see this checkmark here on my chest right here-- we put a check on, saying that your temperature is all good, and we give you hand sanitizer, and you proceed to check in.
Of course, all of our employees, when they get their temperature checked every morning, they have to wear gloves and masks too to be on the floor. All we can do is go day by day and do what we feel is the safest possible.
TIM LANCE: Without sounding too much like a cheerleader here in Atlanta, people have been awesome. The tips for my staff yesterday were phenomenal, the tips were at over 30%. People were super appreciative. The psychological issues that this pandemic lockdown has caused are being undervalued at this point. Just to see some of the people kind of be choked up to be out, and how giddy they were, and how much they just reported to me and my staff that they were just happy something was open where they could see life as they normally knew it, prior to the pandemic. Really changing the course of life in America.
So that was extremely rewarding and great to know that our community feels that way about us, and we feel that way about them. And it was very enriching.
LESTER E. CROWELL, JR.: Today makes seven actual days, and we've been pretty busy. It's almost like-- I would call it medium to a little slow. Even though [INAUDIBLE] taken all of our appointments and stretched them out, taking it one day at a time-- are we scared? Are we nervous? Do we have anxiety? Yes, we do. We've been in business for 46 years. That's a long time, and we're a big part of our community. So I think a lot of people are excited that we're open.
