COVID-19 economic impacts begin
The economic impacts of the COVID-19 virus are readily apparent across the state and the nation. Wimberley is no exception. Due to state mandate, schools are closed, restaurants have closed their dining rooms and turned into curb-side pick and delivery only. Bars are closed. As a town that relies on tourism, Wimberley is facing a difficult time through even the first few days or weeks of the shut down.
WIMBERLEY SQUARE
The lack of traffic on the Wimberley Square is noticeable. March is usually one of the busiest times of the year for foot traffic in Wimberley. Importantly, there are still shops open. The Wimberley Valley is not closed. But some businesses have had to temporarily close their doors.
“We had a really good day the Friday before last (March 13),” Bren Isgitt, owner of Kiss The Cook on the Wimberley Square, said. “It was before the news came out so strongly. The traffic dropped off on that Saturday. We have a ticket count, and we have a daily average. It had dropped probably 25 tickets on that Saturday. On Sunday it had dropped 50 tickets, and on Monday I think I had 16 sales in the store. On the next day it was eight.”
That is when Isgitt decided it was necessary to temporarily close the doors to Kiss the Cook and attempt to offer products and sales online. So far, her customer base hasn’t adjusted to the new shopping methods she is offering.
“I am trying to offer a customer experience where they are Facetiming (an app that allows people to video call on the phone) with me,” Isgitt said. “I can send them photographs of products and tell them their attributes.”
Even through these tough times, she remains hopeful.
“I was watching Bobby Flay on TV, and he said he has had to close a number of restaurants down,” Isgitt said. “But he said when this is over, we are going to go through that wall. It will be a thick brick wall, but we will get through it. That gave me some encouragement.”
RESTAURANTS
It seems just about all businesses are trying to adapt under the new guidelines but possibly none more drastically than restaurants. A week ago, restaurants seemed to be slowing down, but business still appeared strong enough to keep the coffee fresh.
Then politicians and doctors began advising Americans not to gather in groups of more than 10 in the interest of public health. Local governments heeded the advice and restaurants began limiting the amount of customers inside. That lasted for a few days before dining rooms were closed to the public statewide. They are extraordinary measures never really before seen on American soil, but these are also extraordinary times.
“We are kind of in a mild hibernation mode right now,” Jay Bachman, owner of Wimberley Café, which is one of the restaurants adapting to take out and delivery service, said. “We saw a 75 percent drop in sales every day, which means we had to drop 75 percent of our payroll just to survive. We are trying to be creative with our bills that are coming up. We have 100 percent rent and mortgage and 100 percent health insurance. We are having to be creative, and we are hoping to find some kindness out there. We’re hoping that it all works out.”
Beyond trying to keep the doors open, Bachman sees an enhanced responsibility as a food service establishment to keep both his employees and customers safe. He said any employee that feels the need to stay home, whether that is because of fear or even the potential possibility of illness, is encouraged to do so. They have also stepped up their measures to match, and exceed, the Center for Disease Control guidelines.
“What I see on my staff’s end is all the necessary inconveniences that we rely on day to day to kept he public safe have become a source of pride,” Bachman said. “We are going through hundreds of gloves a day, constant hand washing and everything is hospital clean at all time. We moved to plastic ware. It has become quite an adventure for us and a challenge that everyone has stepped up to.”
All of the employers stated, in different forms or fashions, that the most difficult thing in this process is how to handle staff. Decisions are being made as to whether it is better to try and keep staff on with limited hours or is it better to have layoffs that allow them to file for governmental benefits like Unemployment. But as crisis can sometimes do, an individual’s humanity still shines brightly in this time of collective need.
“The one thing that has touched me most profoundly is how many of our crew at the café have taken us aside and said ‘I am ok. I want to give my hours to somebody who needs it,’” Bachman said. “That is really profound.”
Like many restaurants in Wimberley, the café is offering curbside pick up and delivery. They also have seen an uptick in gift cards being purchased, many of which are coming from people out of town to purchase food for locals that may be sheltering in place.
“The biggest change we’ve made to help promote distancing was we immediately launched an electronic gift card program,” Bachman said. “You can log into our website and have a gift card texted or emailed to anyone in America for any amount you want. People are sending gift cards from all over to those in town that are homebound. We can use that for delivery. If you are sheltering in place you can still have a hot meal delivered straight to your door… We delivered all the way to San Marcos yesterday.”
LODGING & MORE
For some businesses in Wimberley, this economic impact is coming from multiple directions. Such is life at The Lodge at Cypress Falls, where the lodge is helping postpone reservations, the event center is rebooking weddings and the tavern is closed to the public. Still, while facing these headwinds, business owners are fighting every way they can.
“We have been really adapting,” Lynnsey Hastie, General Manager at the Lodge at Cypress Falls, said. “I didn’t want to give up. I wanted to adapt.”
That initially started with social distancing at the Tavern at Cypress Falls and hand sanitizing stations at the front door. When doors closed, they purchased growlers, which are resealable containers for alcohol sales to-go, to keep customers stocked.
But some of the governmental measures taken to try and prevent the spread of COVID-19 included banning large gatherings, eventually even banning weddings all together.
“The first thing to go down was weddings,” Hastie said. “We stopped getting inquiries and started getting postponements before it was even mandated… A lot of our reservations are based around those weddings, so we have started trying to move all of those to a new date.”
Moving those reservations is a difficult task, but it is one that Hastie said she and her staff have largely been doing from home. In fact, they are using these moments to show their social media followers what it is like behind the scenes.
“It is important that people know we are still open,” Hastie said. “We need to have someone answer the phone or those reservations for the future will stop coming in. People are at home, and they want to see us being active, not just taking this hit and going silent. We are very much still working, even 12-hour days all last week. We want to let people know we are not a ghost town over here. We are posting pictures online of us working from home, and the chaos that can be. We want our clients to know we are working in the midst of all this.”
It has also been heartening to see the local momentum getting behind small businesses and trying to find a way to support the locals that make Wimberley’s business community as successful as it is.
“I have loved seeing the support of small businesses of each other in town,” Hastie said. “It has been really neat to see things like ‘What you can you do for a small business today?’ online… I am seeing new reviews. That is a way the public has really been supporting us, whether they are past or current clients.”
SHOP LOCAL
A time of distress such as this requires a community to come together to help each other survive. As tourism dollars decrease in the coming days, weeks or potentially months, every dollar spent locally is all the more important.
According to a Civic Economics study in Grand Rapid, Michigan by Michigan State University, if you spend $100 at a local business, roughly $73 stays in your local economy. If you spend the same at a large business, only $43 stays in the local economy.
“Significantly more money re-circulates locally when purchases are made at the locally owned business,” the study said. “This recirculation is attributed, in part, to locally owned businesses purchasing more often from other local businesses, service providers and farms. Purchasing locally helps other businesses grow, as well as the local tax base.”
Every dollar counts.
(Editor’s Note: The businesses and industries in this story are far from the only ones impacted by the restrictions placed on society. If you’ve got a story to tell, email [email protected].)