How are businesses coping with COVID-19? Depends on the business

Marc Shelton - owner of Lock and Key Social Drinkery - survey’s his business; once thriving, now rendered almost entirely closed due to COVID-19.

DOWNEY - For many of Downey’s businesses, the fallout of COVID-19 has proved to be less black and white, closer resembling the good, bad, and the ugly.

Businesses are being forced to make serious decisions as to their future in the wake of the coronavirus.

One of the first businesses in Downey to announce their closure was the Academy Brazilian Jiu Jitsu studio.

“We’ve been looking at this thing really closely and studying it,” said Academy owner Hector Beltran. “By the information we were looking at, we were able to kind of predict where everything was going to go.”

“As soon as we saw the NBA close out the season, the NHL, and we started hearing things about Disneyland shutting down, we talked amongst the owners at Academy and we decided that the best thing to do was to close to protect not just our students, but the community.”

Beltran says that ownership made the decision to be proactive, and that many other Jiu Jitsu studios nationwide have followed suit.

“We were amongst some of the first schools in the nation to close our academy first,” said Beltran. “As soon as word got out that there were a couple of academies trying to do the right thing, trying to be responsible…then it kind of started a domino effect…”

During its closure, Beltran says that the school has transitioned – in just around a weekend, no less – to an online presence.

“We created an online platform so that our members – if they are struggling – they could get all the resources and all their training tools and learn Jiu Jitsu online for free,” said Beltran.

Beltran and Academy staff will record each online lesson at the studio, while also working from their home offices.

Beltran added that if their members were in a position to do so, they could also pay into a subscription.

“This is essentially what we find is the best way to create value for our members, and not have them – if they’re struggling, if they’re not working – I don’t want anybody to have to pay their memberships if they are unable to receive the resources.”

In the meantime, each of the Academy’s members have had their accounts suspended, meaning they will not be billed and will be credited the time that the studio remains shuttered.

For Carlos Galvan Jr. and the Amapola Market, however, COVID-19 has been a completely different story; not one of closure, but of extreme activity.

“The volume has been very heavy,” said Galvan, SVP/CFO of the family-owned market. “We haven’t had the long lines to get into the store…but we do have lines for specific products. The water and the toilet paper, obviously, that the first stuff that flew off the shelf.”

“Now we’re starting to see other staple items for us – tortillas, fresh meat – we’re having a hard time keeping the inventory going, but we’re finding a way.”

Stocking is getting tricky now, however, as Galvan says that many of the vendors and distributors he works with are “working overtime,” and certain things are beginning to be back ordered.

“Water for example, that’s kind of at a premium right now,” said Galvan.

Amapola’s hot foods have also seen an uptick in sales.

“That’s something that has increased our sales, but you need supplies,” said Galvan. “We have to have the produce – tomatoes, onions – all those things to make the food and the meat. You know, it’s kind of a dual-pronged challenge.”

Like many other markets nationwide, Amapola has been forced to start to limit the number of certain items that customers can purchase.

“On the essential items like milk and eggs, we have limited that. In our other stores where we sell bulk rice and beans, we’ve had to limit to 3 pounds per customer just to make sure we have enough,” said Galvan. “Obviously if we get water, it’ll be one case per customer.”

Amapola has also adjusted its hours to help accommodate for senior-aged shoppers, however, are also trying to limit the number of individuals in the store at once.

“Now that we’ve adjusted our hours, especially during those early hours where we’re allowing seniors in, to only bring in one person to accompany them because we don’t want the store full of people during a time where we’re trying to accommodate our seniors.”

COVID-19 has been particularly brutal on the food-service sector, as government mandates whittled down restaurants from full-operation, to limited occupancy, to take-out only in seemingly no time at all.

While many restaurants have tried to take this blow in stride, one prominent Downey Avenue staple is struggling to maintain momentum.

According to Marc Shelton, owner of Lock and Key Social Drinkery, his restaurant saw a rapid decline over the weekend.

“Thursday last week, we were busy. Friday, it wasn’t what we normally were – instead of being an hour and a half, two hour wait, we had a 45 minute wait – but we still did good numbers and we were staying alive. Saturday came around, not a problem,” said Shelton. “Come Monday though, there’s a big hit. Sunday night we were still viable, we were still a business that could continue to stay alive, but once they started making these mandates of no dine-in and no everything else...there’s still no writing on the wall to see really what’s going to happen.”

Shelton believes that many businesses in the city will be forced to close forever, and he fears that Lock and Key might be in that number if the situation doesn’t change soon.

“Restaurants pay their bills, basically we’re a month behind always,” said Shelton. “We pay January’s bills with February’s dollars, and February’s bills with March dollars. We don’t have those dollars coming in right now.”

Shelton has even gone as far as to provide his staff with important links – such as unemployment – just in case the worst-case scenario occurs.

He added that curbside only service is not necessarily conducive to his establishment, as Lock and Key – known for things such as their tomahawk steak that went viral and their “fyre burger” which they set on fire - is a “destination restaurant.”

“We’re not that style of place; we’re not Chick-fil-a,” said Shelton. “We’re in everybody’s head as far as ‘let’s go over there and have a good time, relax, and let loose a little bit. We’re not the ‘let’s take this home because I don’t want to be here’ type thing. That’s a thing for us that makes it kind of hard, is that we can no longer create an experience for our guests.”

Alcohol service is also at a complete standstill for Lock and Key.

Shelton does have a license to sell beer and wine to go, and he is even considering venturing into the sale of unprepared frozen protein. Yet, there is still an element of uncertainty heading into the future.

 “Those are those things; we kind of want to see what’s happening and what’s going on, and then we’re going to start developing what is our new normal now, and what are we going to do to get through.”

“It’s changing the whole landscape…and it’s scary.”