Businesses feeling the pinch from cancellations
PAWTUCKET – Stacey Riendeau is ready for a vacation.
The owner of Bake My Day on Broad Street downtown, Riendeau’s pastry catering business has incurred two significant cancellations in the past few days, after major events in Woonsocket and Pawtucket were postponed.
“The cancellations have just started this week, that’s just when I started feeling it,” Riendeau said on Friday morning. “I could already tell things
are slowing down. Downtown, it’s already slow. We’re shoveling against the tide. For this to happen, it’s just not right.”
“I’m going on vacation,” she added. “I actually took this vacation in December. It’s the first week I’ve had nothing. Leading up to this, I’ve had cancellations. I feel comfortable going on vacation. I’ve waited and then the coronavirus outbreak started.”
ake My Day was slated to provide 100 cupcakes at the crowning ceremony for the Rhode Island &herry lossom Princess in Woonsocket on Friday morning, but that event was canceled after the National &herry lossom Princess Program was postponed until 2021. Riendeau was also scheduled to offer up a “dessert presentation” for the &ity of Pawtucket Arts and &ultural &ommission’s opening reception for its upcoming show celebrating the work of women artists on March 1 . That event was also postponed.
“I don’t know,” Riendeau said, with a sense of resignation and exasperation in her voice. “I’m taking a vacation. I’m tired of listening to it, I’m tired of people being such hypochondriacs. It’s definitely hurting.”
“I’m on staycation next week. I’m burned out, I need a break, I feel like nothing’s happening down here, I just feel drained,” Riendeau said. “I’ve been so busy, I’m lucky that way, but with this crazy stuff, people don’t want to do anything.”
Riendeau said ake My Day will be closed until Monday,
March 23.
“I hope by the time I’m back they come up with a solution,” she continued. “This is going to kill businesses. This is definitely going to hurt me, I’m going to take a hit on this. I’m a fighter, I’ll get through, I’ll figure it out. I’ve been holding my head above water.”
At the southwest corner of Armistice oulevard and Newport Avenue, .ip’s Restaurant has been an institution for the better part of 60 years. During that era, the restaurant has stood the test of time through hurricanes, floods, and blizzards. ut the coronavirus pandemic is something entirely different.
Restaurant co-owner Heather Macomber said that the intersection, one of the most well-traveled in all of Pawtucket, has seemingly gone dark in recent days.
“I had a real rush at yesterday’s lunch, but the nights are slow,” she said. “Nobody’s out, no cars are out Last night, my husband closed at 7 instead of 7 30 because it was so dead. There was not a car on the road. He said ‘Let’s close it.’ I don’t know if people are getting delivery, staying home.”
Last week, .ip’s Restaurant saw a dramatic shift in its business model, as the restaurant which has a capacity of 51 patrons had 72 percent takeout to only 28 percent dining in.
“I hope that business doesn’t come to a standstill, I really don’t, but some people just go with the flow. I think it’s a little too early to tell,” Macomber said.
At the early stages of the arrival of coronavirus to the 8nited States particularly in early to mid February Macomber said she heard chatter in the restaurant from patrons who may not have been taking the virus all too seriously.
“They were saying ‘We have more people die with the regular flu, the government’s building it up, the media’s scaring everyone,’ and I said ‘This is serious, they probably know more, you’ve got to be careful and listen,’” she said. “.eep your hands away from your face, no physical contact, and leave the rest to od.”
On Mineral Spring Avenue, the Miss Lorraine Diner couldn’t have asked for a better start. 8pon opening its doors on Jan. 2 , the dining car attracted throngs of hungry patrons daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
ut within a month, with the arrival of coronavirus to the 8nited States, that trend has ground to a halt, according to Michael Arena.
Arena, who runs the day-to-day operations of the Miss Lorraine Diner, said he’s seen a “big decrease in business.”
“It’s really all day. There’s times in here when there’s absolutely no one here,” he said.
“When we first opened, every seat was taken. Now I’m standing inside the dining car and I have three tables and it’s almost lunchtime We’ve had no good dinner crowds, we’ve had none, we’ve had maybe three or four tables at a time at most.”
“I’ve noticed it the Friday before last, pretty much two weeks ago,” Arena said of when the downward trend first started. “I think the people that are still coming here, even though we have repeat diners, it’s their first time here because it’s new.”
As he takes a view of the world amid the coronavirus pandemic, with sporting events postponed and destinations like Disney World closed, Arena says this is a world unlike anything he’s ever seen.
“It’s just crazy, I’ve never seen anything like it It’s something I’ve never seen besides 11 happening,” he said. “Nothing like this has happened in my lifetime, maybe beside the blizzard of ‘78.”