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Kristin Kohn has one intimidating priority: to continue paying her 14 full-time employees.
That’s why the owner of a small Indianapolis business turned her Silver in the City gift shop into an online delivery service amid the coronavirus pandemic.
She is one of the many business owners who are adjusting to the changing crisis. Like the rest of the business community, every day she flounders in the unknown.
“It’s difficult. There is so much talk about how long this is going to last,” she said. “And I can’t even – I can take that two week period by two week period.”
The IndyChamber and city officials Wednesday announced efforts to help local businesses as the nation waits for a possible federal financial stimulus package that extends food aid, unemployment benefits and paid sick leave. Local efforts include online resources available to residents and businesses in need of assistance, including business loans.
“This effort alone is not enough to fully meet the urgent needs of our small business community,” Mayor Joe Hogsett said Wednesday. “The business losses alone will run into the hundreds of millions, not the hundreds of thousands.”
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Although Hogsett advised residents only travel for necessities – like medical care or groceries – it leaves the decision to close their doors to “non-essential” businesses.
“Whether you stay open or not is largely your decision in terms of the safety of your employees,” he said at a press conference on Wednesday. “We want to make sure that as long as your employees stay safe, we want to do everything we can to keep you open.”
Take it day by day
Throughout Indianapolis, non-essential businesses are weathering the storm.
The salons make the appointments they can book. Auto dealerships remain open. A dry cleaning company encourages its customers to use existing pickup and drop-off points.
At Silver in the City, customers can order products online and opt for same day delivery.
This involves Kohn hopping into a car with his son, who needs training with his learner’s license, and dropping gifts at customers’ doors.
“Right now, nothing can support us,” said Kohn, who plans to lose $ 185,000 in income over a four-week period. “I was just hoping that maybe we could get to a point where it would help relieve our payroll so that we could continue to pay employees.”
The store has also adopted curbside pickup, just as restaurants on Massachusetts Avenue have started doing since Gov. Eric Holcomb announced on Monday. a restriction on dining options.
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Just down the street on Massachusetts Avenue, the Crimson Tate fabric store has also accommodated travel advice by moving business online and offering curbside pickup.
Owner Heather Givans admits her store isn’t essential and isn’t about life and death.
“But it’s also about creating something, and having a creative outlet is an important part of dealing with stress and dealing with the chaos of what’s going on,” she said. “And so I was like, ‘Well, how can I do that?'”
Other non-essential stores are closing completely. Simon Property Group, which owns 10 properties in the Indianapolis area, has announced that it will close its high-end malls and outlets from 7 p.m. Wednesday to March 29.
Prioritization of needs
The Indy Chamber, which represents about 2,000 members in the Indianapolis area, said it had answered questions from worried business owners about whether they should shut down their operations.
But Hogsett said his guidelines for Marion County were clear.
“The only businesses we want to see closed are our entertainment venues, our bars, our restaurants, our bowling alleys, our cinemas,” he said. “It’s the ban.”
Hogsett is leaving it up to owners who do not operate in those categories involving large gatherings of people to decide whether their business should close or remain open during the health crisis.
The mayor’s travel advisory is just that, a recommendation that encourages residents to be more attentive to their movements in the community.
“While it does not impose mandatory road closures or penalize residents, it does encourage the prioritization of basic needs,” said Taylor Schaffer, spokesperson and deputy chief of staff for Hogsett, in an e -mail.
The notice says the conditions threaten public safety, the second of three severity levels described in state law. It does not apply to travel for medical care, compulsory employment, grocery shopping or looking after someone else.
Following advice from the Marion County Public Health Department, the mayor’s office said only businesses considered to pose the greatest risk to public health during the pandemic have been ordered to close.
It is not clear whether this order could be extended in the future to include businesses that are currently still open.
“At the moment, we haven’t gone to extremes like San Francisco and, or New York,” said Paul Babcock, the city’s director of public health and safety.
“We just continue to assess where we are and work to make sure all of our residents have access to the appropriate health care needs they have. “
Call IndyStar reporter Amelia Pak-Harvey at 317-444-6175 or email her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @AmeliaPakHarvey.
Contact IndyStar reporter Alexandria Burris at [email protected] or call 317-617-2690. Follow her on Twitter: @allyburris.
