Business During COVID-19

Happy June! At this point, it has been over 70 days since a “Stay At Home” order was put in place in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Although many of us can agree that the protection of all North Carolinians was the primary goal of the “Stay At Home” order, it is no secret that many small businesses were significantly impacted by the restrictions. Historic Downtown Wilson businesses demonstrated the resiliency I have come to expect from native and transplanted Wilsonians. Many of our business owners immediately made the “pivot” and began adopting previously unexplored practices to help serve their customers while abiding by the statewide guidelines. For example, many downtown businesses launched new online formats to make it easier to shop with them online or by phone, some businesses expanded their offerings to meet the health and convenience needs of their customers, and others increased collaboration with their neighbors to help support each other through revenue losses and general uncertainty.

Fortunately, we are now well into Phase 2 of easing statewide restrictions and most of our business owners have been able to reopen their doors or resume in-person services. If you are hesitant or unable to support at the level or frequency that they were prior to the pandemic, there are several ways to support downtown businesses:

• Like, follow, share, and leave a positive review for your favorite downtown businesses on social media, Yelp, or Google. There are many who do not know of all the great offerings in downtown. By helping to spread the word, you can play an important role in the #downtownturnaround.
• Similarly, like and share some of the videos recently created to highlight various downtown businesses. Links to these videos are available below. My favorite is “We’re Ready for You!”
• Participate in “Bounce Back Bucks” by purchasing a gift card from a business located with the downtown Municipal Service District boundaries. You will be glad you did! More information on this promotion is included below.   
• Kindly abide by the mantra, “Wear. Wait. Wash.”, meaning to wear a face covering in public, wait 6 feet apart from other customers, and thoroughly wash your hands often or use hand sanitizer when you enter businesses to help keep everyone healthy.

We can ALL do our part to shop smart while supporting local businesses. With your help, we can prevent closures of small business in downtown and across our community!