Hundreds of business owners say AZ reopening is too hasty

A collection of Arizona small businesses, ranging from restaurants to retailers, have published a letter on TooSoonArizona.com stating they will not be opening their doors until “credible epidemiological experts & researchers” say it’s safe.

Gov. Doug Ducey allowed salons and barbershops in the state to reopen May 8 and dining rooms to reopen May 11, as long as new state safety guidelines are followed.

Restaurants across the Valley that reopened saw mixed results Monday, with Arizona Republic reporters seeing crowds of varying sizes.

5 Points Market & Restaurant in Tucson said in a May 9 social media post that it and other businesses would not be reopening their dining rooms and doors to customers. Restaurant owners said they worked with other local leaders to draft a letter in support of the continued closure.

“We feel proceeding incautiously with the reopening of businesses will worsen human suffering in our communities and prolong the negative impact this pandemic is having on small businesses & the economy,” the letter says.

The owners of 5 Points Market & Restaurant did not respond to requests for a comment by The Arizona Republic.

Since it was posted last Saturday, more than 300 small business owners and employees signed the letter from cities across Arizona, including Tucson, Phoenix, Tempe and Flagstaff.

Danielle Leoni, who owns the Breadfruit & Rum Bar in Phoenix with her partner, Dwayne Allen, said Allen signed the letter because they didn’t feel comfortable opening Monday.

“We don’t feel that the guidelines are clear enough, concise enough or demanding enough to keep us all safe, and there’s a lack of testing and there’s a lack of test results,” Leoni said.

Leoni and Allen closed their Caribbean restaurant indefinitely in March and recently formed the Arizona Small Restaurant Coalition to advocate on behalf of the restaurant industry.

“There’s nothing we have ever faced that has been more grave than what

we’re facing today and it can’t be taken lightly,” Leoni said. “Reopening is not a matter of making sure we have a balanced budget. Money doesn’t matter when it’s either money or your life, and that’s why you don’t see small businesses clamoring to open today. Most of us are hesitant, and it’s because it’s just there’s not enough value.”

‘There’s a lot of pressure’

Dylan Bethge, the owner of Oven+Vine in Phoenix, said his restaurant has been offering takeout food since it closed the dining room in mid-March.

Bethge said he doesn’t have any plans to open for dine-in services until after May, but has patio tables available for customers to “hang out and socially distance” after ordering takeout.

“There’s a lot of pressure, I think, you know, from society to open the dining room,” Bethge said. “And then also financially, of course, you can make a lot more money being open inside than you can just doing to-go food. And I totally understand that. But I just can’t keep people safe, my staff nor the customers, so it doesn’t make any sense at all.”

‘We’re all in this together’

Mike Lopercio, the owner of Rigatony’s in Tempe, said his restaurant switched to takeout-only eight weeks ago.

Lopercio said he hasn’t made the decision for when to reopen the dining room because there’s been “too little direction.”

“Not to say that we shouldn’t open, but we should open cautiously and with concerted direction, and I don’t see that,” Lopercio said.

Lopercio said he hopes people are careful so the virus doesn’t “spiral out of control.”

“The reality is, obviously — everybody says it’s a cliche — we’re all in this together,” Lopercio said. “But it’s incredibly true. If one group of people try really hard to be responsible and the other group of people are reckless, it doesn’t matter how hard the other group tries, you know, it’s just going to be counterproductive.”

Tucson small businesses

Jada Ahern, the owner of Dry Heat Pottery in Tucson, said she works with older adults and doesn’t feel like she has enough guidance to keep her students safe.

“It feels like at least some of us are pointing out that we really do have questions about how to resume working again,” Ahern said. “I feel that some of us that are working with a vulnerable population, things like that, have not been guided enough on how to handle that.”

Ahern said she stopped pottery classes on March 16 and has no plans to reopen. She said she uses a Pima County building for her classes.

“I really want to go back to work but I want it to be safe for my students,” Ahern said.

Restaurants, such as James Beard Award-winning chef Janos Wilder’s Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails in Tucson, signed the letter. In a Facebook post, the restaurant said it will not be reopening because “there is no scientific evidence that COVID-19 infection rates have sufficiently decreased in Arizona.”

Other recognizable restaurant names signed to the letter on Sunday night included award-winning Phoenix chef Silvana Salcido Esparza and Brandon Katz of Obon Sushi + Bar + Ramen.