SAN MATEO, Calif. (KRON) – “Hopefully what this does is it gives these small business owners a glimmer of hope in that they’re not fully closed but now they’ll have the ability to operate,” Supervisor David Canepa said.
Most retail businesses in San Mateo and San Francisco counties are expected to reopen on Monday for curbside pickup and delivery.
Both counties are easing restrictions after seeing no spikes in cases and a flattening of hospitalizations.
“We have to balance two things: one saving lives and the second thing that we have to balance which is critical as well is how do we get this economy back?” Canepa said.
For many of the businesses in San Mateo that were forced to shut down and lay off employees, Supervisor David Canepa says they’re taking a small step in the right direction.
On Wednesday, both San Mateo and San Francisco counties announced that they will allow most retailers to reopen with curbside pickup and delivery on Monday.
The new order includes manufacturing and warehouses but not shopping malls.
“We’ve seen small businesses, restaurants in terms of sales some of them down 60 to 90%. However, what we’re hoping for is that with these curbside sales that it helps those businesses because right now they can’t operate,” Canepa said.
Over in San Francisco, Small Frys is one of those businesses.
“95% of our business is gone. My daughter who’s the manager was laid off as there were other employees,” Carol Yenne said.
Owner Carol Yenne says the children’s store has been a part of her family since 1991.
While she believes curbside pick up will help some…
“I think it might give people a thought to call and then do it locally versus sitting on their computer or going to target. Right now we’re losing a lot of business to the big box stores,” Yenne said.
She says business owners can’t rely on it for long since many were already forced to close for good because of the financial troubles.
“I’m just looking forward to the mayor saying okay you know? Hopefully very quickly, maybe a week more and we can start having social distance shopping. That will make a big difference. That’s where we can really start to see people on the street, like they do at our bakery now on our street. You know they stand in a line outside, they come in one at a time. That will be where we start to see some positivity,” Yenne said.
San Francisco and San Mateo counties are expected to release new shelter in place orders with the loosened restrictions and details this week.
San Francisco will release instructions for businesses on Thursday.
Some of the guidelines will include that retailers can’t have any more than 10 people on site at a time, of course that number is less for smaller stores.
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