BUFFALO, N.Y. — It appears many merchants in Western New York have a wait and see attitude for the official first day of Phase Two. A lot of businesses on Hertel Avenue expected to reopen on Tuesday, but instead what we found was a lot of confusion.
Jordan Pursel decided to actually roopen her hair salon on Wednesday for a safety margin and scheduling concerns.
"We had over 400 calls to make for appointments," Pursel said. "So if we didn't have that date you know everything would have to be moved and adjusted so we were just kind of crossing our fingers for tomorrow."
Also there are the guidelines to deal with as Pursel noted, "Everything is very last minute. You know we don't have time to prepare. So we're all just kind of observing what everyone else is doing. we finally have guidelines but... you know "
Governor Andrew Cuomo did make it official during his late morning press conference for Western New York's Phase Two reopening, but Pursel says communication from the state is still unclear.
"I just talked to a friend down the street who opened for one appointment today and then closed up," Pursel said. "She canceled her day because we don't know...we don't know if somebody is going to come in and pull our license and it's not really worth it. But I just feel the communication is still very unclear. We're all very excited on the tip of reopening... everybody is waiting but we don't know. "
Many businesses were required to have a specific reopening plan all specified as to how they're going to conduct operations. But they're also doing the physical preparation, which can be expensive.
For example, a crew from the Disinfect-It firm of Buffalo was in Pursel's Hertel Avenue hair salon Tuesday morning. They sprayed everything down with a special cleansing mist. They also had to separately wipe down every surface.
"In order for it to have a kill time for COVID and then other viruses and bacteria, it needs to sit down on it for a minute on any surface," said Brian Weinberg of Disinfect-It. "It's just a mist for about a minute and then we go ahead and wipe it off and dry it and everything is disinfected."
Weinberg adds, "Previous weeks we've been talking to a lot of businesses that were prepping for stage two. And now we're starting to talk to them about phases three and four in their future. So kinda getting on their plans and helping them set up and getting their first cleaning underway so people know this is what they're doing."
Pursel says, "We're like upward of two thousand dollars now. And it is what it is. You know I was really fortunate in getting my PPP loan and I know a lot of businesses haven't. But I've been able to use some of that money and relly pout that back into the business and be prepared."
Pursel also spent money to install a plexiglas shield for her shampooing stations to keep workers and customers separated. Of course some businesses also had to lay out some extra money for plywood to cover windows with the recent concerns about looting and vandalism.
Some merchants expect to get busier as the week goes on, but just like everything these days, it's very much a learning experience.
