Local businesses are the sturdy roots supporting the Oshkosh economic tree, a prime necessity in the heart and culture of a town. Currently, due to the pandemic, these stores are facing new challenges trying to keep their businesses afloat while maintaining the safety of their customers and workers.

One of the biggest challenges for Jim Evans, owner of Art Haus, has been making sure that his art supply store has stayed on top of the ever-changing government regulations.

“There was about a span of three days where I had to change my business model five or six times because they kept changing things,” he said.

Wisconsin initially declared that only five people were to be let into the store at a time, only to change the restriction a few days later. Different types of businesses are experiencing different levels of restrictions as well. Jon Doemel has experienced some of the challenges of these regulations firsthand with his restaurant, ZaRonis.

“Our dining room is still closed,” he said. “We're doing everything through curbside pickup and delivery only.”

These are not the only challenges local stores have faced during the past few months. As one can imagine, the lack of cash influx has also been a large problem. The absence of funds has made it very difficult for small business owners to pay their bills and their employees. In order to help combat this, Evans applied for and received government aid.

“I got a grant from a program called ‘We’re All In,’” he said. “They also had special unemployment insurance for the self-employed, called the ‘Pandemic Unemployment Act.’ A lot of the ‘Paycheck Protection Program’ or ‘PPP’ loans I wasn’t eligible for, and I know a lot of bigger businesses took advantage of them.”

Other local businesses found government support to be more helpful in other ways. Teri Stern, the owner of Family Values Hair Salon, found that government aid helped her employees the most.

“The only government support I feel we accessed was that my staff was furloughed, therefore they were able to get unemployment, and then they had that additional government surplus on it,” she said.

Employees at ZaRonis were not so lucky. Unfortunately, they did not get any benefits similar to what employees at Family Values received.

“We went from 42 employees in early March, and now we are down to 25,” Doemel said.

On the other hand, many businesses have taken advantage of social media to stay connected to their customers. Stern found the networking apps to be especially helpful to keep in touch with the community.

“We stayed social media savvy, and we were able to put out Facebook posts and Instagram posts almost daily, as well as running contests throughout shutdown,” she said.

As anxiety ran high with people wanting to get in to have their hair cut, Stern made sure they were doing okay.

“I called them, checking to see how they were doing, and then rolling their appointment to a next possible opening every time that the reopening got pushed back,” she said.

Similary, checking in with people who came to Doemel’s restaurant was extremely important to him because he knew customers wouldn’t be having the easiest time.

“It's all about Facebook and community,” he said. “The first thing that we looked at when things started to hit, is that there are going to be a lot of people struggling out there so we wanted to see what we could do to make sure that we could help as many people as we possibly could. I think the focus needs to be survival. That doesn’t mean just us; it’s the customers as well.”

Safety during these dangerous times is imperative to keep customers and employees alike safe. At ZaRonis, the employes are required to wear masks as well as follow other common safety protocols.

“We stay safe by washing hands, making sure that we are checking temperatures when people come in, and making sure that if people aren't feeling well they don't come into work,” Doemel said.

Because a salon requires workers and customers to be in close proximity, Family Values has to be extra diligent with their safety measures.

“We are constantly sanitizing every contact point,” Stern said. “We spray chairs and wipe down desks. We also provide hand sanitizer stations right when you walk in the door, as well as providing face masks for those who don’t have them.”

For the pandemic to end, Evans feels that every individual has to take safety very seriously, which includes basic safety measures.

“Really, what needs to be done- and it's a simple thing but people just aren’t doing it- people have to mask up, and they’ve got to maintain separation,” he said. “The more people going to bars and parties means the longer we are going to be in this situation and the harder it’s going to be for businesses to operate.”

Along with businesses, students have been making changes when it comes to shopping and eating out. Senior McKenna Hadel prefers not to go out whenever possible.

“There is a lot of anxiety about being around other people right now, so if I don't have to go out in public places, I won’t,” she said.

Junior Senja Sippert, on the other hand, is finding new ways to acquire the products she needs and wants.

“I've been doing a lot more online shopping,” she said. “My mom and I used to plan to go out shopping for fun, but now we just do it when we need to.”

On the flipside, students like Hadel realized that doing only online shopping could cause many businesses to permanently close, so local businesses shouldn’t be neglected.

“My family likes to support small businesses, especially during these hard times,” Hadel said.

As COVID continues, each of the businesses have learned to cope in their own ways while holding on to hope that eventually things will go back to how they used to be. Despite the pandemic, new customers at Family Values are keeping Stern busy.

“I would say we are back to normal, but in a different essence,” Stern said. “We have seen some clients continuing to do at-home hair care, but we are also seeing a big wave of new clients as well.”

Evans, along with Stern, is coping by coming up with creative solutions to the problems their businesses are facing. His focus is making art more accessible during online learning.

“I put together some kits for a professor’s painting class and drawing class,” he said. “She wanted to do that because she has a really strong feeling that they are going to be online learning, and she wanted to have everybody get the same stuff so it would be easier to work online.”

While businesses are going through various changes, one thing remains clear: community support is the most important thing people can partake in now. The support of Doemel’s customers has proven to be the backbone that keeps his business running.

“We wouldn’t be where we are today if we didn’t have customers that supported us throughout the years,” he said. “So if there is an opportunity for us to help others, I think that’s really crucial.”

By Delaney Koch

Oshkosh West Index, Volume 117 Issue I

October 2nd, 2020

Local Businesses Adapt to Changes While Keeping Customers Safe