Brittany Pichler
Managing Editor
As the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread, local businesses are struggling to stay afloat. The novel disease has triggered economic uncertainty across the globe, leaving businesses suffering while customers practice social distancing.
The pandemic is causing businesses to seek new strategies for profits after citywide regulations have required all restaurants to only offer take-out and delivery and all bars to shut down. Only essential businesses including grocery stores, gas stations and healthcare providers have remained open.
An email survey conducted by the National Federation of Independent Business on March 20 showed 76% of the small businesses polled were negatively impacted by the coronavirus. This percentage has skyrocketed since the beginning of the month when it was just under one-quarter.
Those small businesses include two on the Southside of San Antonio including Coffeecionado and Garcia Art Glass.
Southside coffee shop seeks Grubhub for sinking profits
Coffeecionado owner Patricia Butler choked up while talking about the current state of her shop during a phone interview March 18.
While the shop is lucky to be stocked with product and coffee, it would be impossible to order and receive new coffee products because of a lack of workers, travel bans and astronomical prices, Butler said.
“This is a tragedy,” Butler said of how businesses are struggling.
Prior to the outbreak, Coffeecionado was making a steady profit each day. Now, customers are scarce, with the shop serving three to five customers daily, according to Butler.
Workers are becoming afraid of contracting the virus as well, Butler said.
“They don’t want to come to work because they don’t want to be around other customers,” Butler said. “We’re on a skeletal crew right now.”
Butler is looking toward Grubhub as a source of profit for her shop.
Customers in San Antonio can place orders through the app to be delivered to their home.
Butler said she hopes for brighter times after the current panic ends.
“It’s going to make us stronger,” Butler said.
To order from Coffeecionado from Grubhub, visit https://www.grubhub.com/restaurant/coffeecionado-community-roaster-502-w-mitchell-st-san-antonio/2030608.
Southtown hot glass studio feeling ripple effects of COVID-19
Since opening Garcia Art Glass in 1998, the company has produced work for clients around the world including The Flame of Reflection at Texas A&M University-San Antonio.
The company creates one-of-a-kind glass blown-glass lighting and sculptures including tablescapes, installations and wall art.
The company consists of two teams.The front of house includes sales, gallery and administration, and the glass-blowing team makes up the back of the house.
“As long as we’re still able to be open for business, the back of the house will continue producing,” owner Gini Garcia said in a phone interview March 20.
As of March 24, Garcia Art Glass has closed due to the Stay Home, Work Safe Orders. The front of the house team will continue to work remotely.
With new regulations placed to curb the spread of COVID-19, the family business is looking to its sales team for new projects.
“The key formula moving forward is if we don’t have additional sales, we can’t afford to stay open as a business,” Garcia said. “So, it’s really, really critical that we change our focus. Orders that we can honor, (we) have counted on.”
The company produces items for events that have since been canceled, causing the art studio to lose about a third of their business, Garcia said. Garcia is now shifting the company focus to seek more clientele and additional projects for the studio to gain profits.
Many small business owners, including Garcia, have the added task of having to figure out how to pay their employees at this time.
The company has enough funds to pay workers through the end of the month, Garcia said. She is weighing her options of taking out a loan or offering a percentage of salaries to still provide to her team.
“We have spent many years putting this team together and they are all incredibly loyal,” Garcia said. “I don’t have any turnover. And we want to hold on to all of them so we’re going to try, even if there’s no work, we’re going to try to offer a package to pay part of their salary.”
To keep fear down among workers, Garcia has met with her teams to discuss how they are feeling and “outlawed listening to news” during business hours.
“I want to alleviate that anxiety,” Garcia said. “That’s basically been my job this week to mitigate anxiety and making sure that everybody felt that they were in a comfortable place.”
Before the business closed, the company was doing what it could to keep going including sanitizing and self-quarantine after work. Garcia had encouraged her workers to stay home if ill or unable to go out.
As for products, Garcia has allocated funds for items the studio needs including alcohol, which they cannot get so easily during the pandemic, Garcia said. Other necessities included a $1,000 part for the furnace.
“Without the furnace, we can’t produce any glass,” Garcia said.
Garcia ordered the part to be overnighted to her but it did not arrive. To prevent having her back-of-the-house team of seven without work or profit, Garcia drove to Fort Worth in the same day to retrieve the part.
“Those are the things we’re needing to do,” Garcia said.
Garcia Art Glass will continue working remotely, Garcia said.
“We’ve got to keep going,” Garcia said.
For more information about Garcia Art Glass, visit http://www.garciaartglass.com
How the community can support local business
According to The Huffington Post, there are ways those social distancing in their homes can support local businesses who are suffering including:
- Buy online
- Buy locally whenever possible
- Leave good reviews
- Purchase gift cards
- See if local studios are offering video classes
- Tip extra generously, if you can
Read the full story by The Huffington Post here.
Here is a directory of local businesses from the San Antonio Current people can support. The list is divided by regions in San Antonio, take-out options, curbside, online ordering and alcohol delivery.
