SAN ANTONIO — Retail stores in Texas will soon be able to open back up for business (with some restrictions) as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan to jump-start a state economy stalled by the coronavirus pandemic.
Abbott loosened restrictions on non-essential retailers, allowing businesses to offer curbside pick-up or delivery service starting this Friday.
That's good news for brothers Anthony and Uriel Diaz, who own Karolina’s Antiques. They say this time of the year is usually the busiest season for them, with Fiesta merchandise hot-ticket products.
“Now that it's April, normally you can't even walk in the store because it's so busy," Uriel said. "Definitely we've taken a big hit."
But since the pandemic forced small businesses to shut their doors amid stay-home orders, the owners of those shops and services – like the Diaz brothers – have faced an uphill challenge to keeping their livelihoods alive.
So the brothers creative, devising a way to get business going by holding live videos on social media promoting their wares and offering free shipping to interested customers.
“We came up with this concept almost like a QVC and HSN kind of network where we show you, 'We have this item, if you buy now, you can also get this,’” Anthony said.
Uriel said they didn’t have to lay off or furlough any employees—because there are virtually no employees to lay off. The business is run solely by the brothers and their mother, the only three employees at the family-owned business they started 16 years ago.
“Our business does support the homes of three—myself, my brother and my mother," Anthony said. "So we rely heavily on the store."
But even though the creative marketing was working, it still wasn’t bringing in enough revenue to pay all the bills.
“We weren’t sure for a while there if we would make it out of this pandemic with our doors still open because it was such a devastation for us,” Anthony said
'Nothing is for-profit right now'
Michelle Cook opened Chic'tique, a clothing boutique off Broadway, a few years ago. She said she made the decision to close the store before the official order forcing businesses to temporarily close.
“We do have a lot of people coming in, and that was the scary point, because we didn't know what was safe or what was the limit to operate, or a safe guideline to operate (by),” Cook said.
She had to move all her operations online, but sales have decreased.
“It's very, very different from foot traffic to in-store physical interaction to only online,” Cook said. “Nothing is for-profit right now. Everything is to basically stay afloat. Every single purchase counts.”
Cook said she’s been struggling to keep her business alive in recent weeks.
“At the same time, there's a lot of people being cautious about their money just because they're all in the unknown,” Cook said. “People are not spending because they don't know what's going to happen.”
However, she says she won't be able to reopen for curbside pick-up or home delivery. Another challenge stands in the way: The warehouses from where she sources most of her goods still have their lights off.
“They won't be able to ship new inventory. So that's a bigger problem in itself."
As for the Diaz brothers, they said the retail-to-go option will help pick-up sales, and assist them in cutting down on other expenses.
“We're doing free shipping, which means that the shipping costs are coming out of our portion of the money that we're making,” Uriel said.
He said they have a plan to wear masks and gloves to distribute items, and will place items in tubs to hand to customers for pick-up.
Abbott did not reveal any new plans in Tuesday’s press conference, but hinted that he will have additional announcements about his plan in the coming days.
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