Big stores followed guidelines and so can Main St. stores; the crowds are already here
The waiting is becoming too much for the small businesses in our local communities.
It is time for Gov. Phil Murphy to allow small retailers to open their doors to customers instead of limiting them to curbside delivery. The frustration is starting to boil over, no more so than in shore towns where they have less than three months to do the vast majority of their business.
We’re not calling for the suspension of social distancing guidelines and other rules to protect employees and customers. We’re calling for more of the restrictions to be lifted to allow for some sense of normalcy to return to the business community.
We’re asking that for two prime reasons.
First, the crowds are already back in the shore towns.
The limits put in place since March were meant to deter people from gathering and spreading COVID-19, the coronavirus that has taken more than 11,000 lives in New Jersey in the past 10 weeks. Cape May County was tightly locked down, a decision that saved lives and kept the vast majority of the population healthy.
The fact about only a half-percent of the population was diagnosed with the virus in the county attests to that. We understood the lockdown, as did the population here, and supported it. Neighboring Atlantic County’s cases are three times as high, but still relatively low compared to most counties in New Jersey. On Monday, Atlantic County reported its lowest one-day total of new cases in nearly two months.
The beautiful weather has been creating gorgeous weekends and the Boardwalks, promenades and beaches are open. Crowds are back. We were sorry to see most people not bothering to wear masks, but most were still staying apart when they were lining up at eateries and to buy treats.
There is no point making downtown and boardwalk retailers have to watch those crowds through closed doors, hoping some will find a way to window shop and call in their orders. Crowds are here, like it or not, and businesses should be able to take advantage of that.
The second reason is that if all of the supermarkets and big chain stores such as Walmart and Target and Lowe’s and Home Depot have shown they can handle having shoppers with social distancing, so can our small businesses.
Small businesses can effectively limit how many people are in their shops, require masks for shoppers and their employees, and keep people safely spaced apart. It is no longer fair to force these small businesses to watch their livelihoods continue to be so endangered.
Organizations such as the Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce have already begun working with merchants to prepare them for commerce under social distancing requirements. We believe they can do that effectively.
We also see that the frustration has built up so high that businesses were planning to open in protest this Monday in Ocean City. That movement fizzled for a variety of reasons, but the sentiment behind it is stronger than ever. We don’t know that it will stay contained.
The threat of opening against regulations should not prompt the governor to act, but it should open his eyes.
Gov. Murphy has to understand that summer at the shore is not just opening the Boardwalks and beaches. It is about opening the businesses that support the people who come here, the businesses that have less than three months to do the bulk of their business to pay their rents, sell their inventories and pay their employees.
The time to wait is over.
Murphy keeps saying that data drives dates, that the health of the state’s residents will lead to a healthy economy. We have agreed with that approach, but have also come to believe the time is right to give the small businesses their most important shot at survival – particularly here at the shore – and to show they can operate within social distancing restrictions just like their major counterparts.
On Monday he said he’ll allow retailers to open to limited customers June 15. Why wait?
If the big stores have proved shoppers can buy and survive the COVID-19 pandemic, the little stores need their chance to prove it too. And they need to prove it now as the tourism season gets going. Being closed in April was painful for a lot of small businesses, but being closed half of June will make it all that much harder for them to recover.
