Safety highest priority for some small retailers
NEW YORK » Dan Marshall’s toy store should be crowded this time of the year with parents and grandparents buying gifts and children trying out games. Instead, only a handful of customers are in Mischief Toy Store at any time, and their visits are short and efficient.
Yet while the coronavirus outbreak is giving Marshall his most challenging holiday season in over 20 years in business, his priority is keeping everyone — customers and all the workers in his family-run business — safe. So, he’s encouraging shoppers to buy from the Mischief Toy Store website or order by phone rather than at the St. Paul, Minnesota, shop. He also arranges for virtual shopping trips, where
customers can see the store’s merchandise online.
“We are in the weird position of wanting people to shop, but not wanting them to come into the store,” Marshall says.
Retailers are taking extraordinary steps this holiday season in hopes of lessening the spread of the virus. The steps go beyond limiting the number of people in a store; besides encouraging online shopping, many owners are setting up appointments before and after hours for private shopping trips. Owners ask customers in their stores to limit the amount of time they spend there. Curbside pickup, delivery and shipping are standard operating procedure.
All this is in addition to state and local restrictions on how many people can be in a store at a time. Some owners, Marshall included, have decided to set a limit even where there are no government orders. He’s allowing 10 people in at once, a third of what he’d expect during the holiday season.
Small and independent retailers have been among the hardest-hit businesses during the pandemic. Not only are they contending with government restrictions, but many consumers worried about catching the virus don’t want to shop in person. The plunge in revenue has forced more than 8,600 stores to close this year, according to Coresight Research, a market research firm that specializes in retailing.
Consumers reluctance was reflected in a 1.1% drop in retail sales in November, according to the Commerce Department.
The changes in stores this year can be dramatic or subtle. In toy stores, usually children can plow through bins of small toys and pick out what they want. There’s a cluster of small items at the checkout counter that parents buy on impulse, extending the shopping trip a bit and adding to the retailer’s bottom line. Not this year; Marshall, whose revenue is likely to be down 30% this year, is emphasizing safety over profits.
“We wanted to expedite that process and keep people moving,” Marshall says. But, he adds, “it’s not how a toy store wants to do business.”
Emily and John Murray have gone further, deciding last month to close their baby products store and operate entirely online even though Michigan is allowing retailers to remain open.
“We felt it was the right thing to do,” Emily Murray says.
The Murrays expected Modern Natural Baby to suffer a massive revenue drop. Instead, sales have been up 15% from a year go, in part because the Murrays are doing two live videos a day showcasing their merchandise.