First step toward reopening state
Restaurants, retail stores open up but crowds remain limited
Connecticut took a first step toward reopening its economy Wednesday amid the state’s coronavirus outbreak, as customers returned to restaurants, stores and malls for the first time in more than two months.
Though some residents dined at social distances on outside patios, leafed through clothing racks at local retailers or strolled through malls, many restaurants and stores were quiet through the morning and afternoon. Business picked up slightly in the evening hours, with people searching for some normalcy amid the continued coronavirus pandemic.
The reopening, anticipated for several weeks, comes as the state’s hospitalizations decrease and officials bolster their ability to test and track the coronavirus.
“There are two groups of people: people who absolutely won’t go out and people who can’t wait to go out,” said John Paindiris, owner of Effie’s Place restaurant in West Hartford.
A few minutes past opening Wednesday morning, a woman pulled up in a convertible and took a seat at a table — the first customer to sit at Effie’s Place since it closed in March.
Rachel George, of West Hartford,
ordered an omelette with feta, tomato and spinach, toast and a cup of coffee.
“I am so excited about everything reopening,” she said. “I know that COVID has been rough and people have died, but we’ve had pandemics before and we’ve never shut down the economy, so I’m really excited about things going back to normal. I have friends who own small businesses, they’re really struggling, so I want them to get back on their feet.”
By dinnertime, West Hartford Center didn’t quite resemble what it normally would on a late spring night, where people struggle to find parking on LaSalle Road and wait in long lines before being seated. But nonetheless, people walked the street and many sidewalk tables and outdoor dining spaces were full.
On New Park Avenue where the Craftbird food truck was stationed, Steve and Peggy Lowry grabbed dinner.
“I would set up a chair in the parking lot just so we don’t have to go home,” Peggy Lowry, 61, said.
But with New Park Brewing and nearby shops all still closed Wednesday, the lot was empty. They’d have to sit on their porch, again. While she used to eat out three or four times a week, Lowry said she doesn’t plan to return to restaurants anytime soon. It won’t be the same, she said.
“I don’t want to be one of four tables at a restaurant, I just want things to go back the way they used to be,” she said. “I believe everything’s going to go back to the way it was. No ‘new normal,’ just the old one.”
Gov. Ned Lamont said Tuesday that key public health metrics, including more than 45,000 weekly tests, sustained declines in hospitalizations and a drop in the percentage of people positive for the virus relative to the number of overall screenings, show Connecticut is well-positioned to reopen.
“These are trend lines that give us confidence [with] what we are trying to do tomorrow with our slow and methodical reopening,” Lamont said in an afternoon briefing Tuesday. “The timing is right. We’ve hit the key metrics that we thought we would.”
State officials have urged people to remain committed to wearing masks in public and to maintain six feet of distance at all times.
While restaurants, outdoor zoos, small retailers and malls were allowed to reopen Wednesday, the state has issued strict guidance that includes extensive cleaning, social distancing and a requirement that employees and consumers wear masks.
Restaurants set up outside
In West Hartford Center, there was almost an air of normalcy early Wednesday afternoon, as a few dozen people strolled along the sidewalks. Two women chatted on a picnic blanket on the grass median of South Main Street and others walked around with coffees in hand. A line stretched out the door at Tea Break, as customers waited to pick up bubble tea. Music from restaurants and passing cars drifted through the shopping district.
A number of restaurants remained shuttered but those that were open — like Max’s Oyster Bar on Farmington Avenue and World of Beer in Blue Back Square — were busy. On LaSalle Road, Max Burger’s outdoor patio was lively with diners, who sat at tables under red umbrellas.
Though all restaurants could reopen Wednesday, the Connecticut Restaurant Association believes that only 25% will do so immediately.
Restaurants, which had previously been limited to takeout and delivery, can serve customers but must do so outside with properly distanced tables. State and local leaders have worked with restaurants to amend zoning rules to allow for greater access to outdoor spaces.
At lunchtime, Better Half Brewing co-owner Rachel Haseltine was getting outdoor tables ready for opening at 3 p.m.
The taproom, brewery and restaurant in downtown Bristol hopes to serve as many as 30 people at tables under tents in its parking lot. Haseltine said she is eager for the business, but an outdoor-only operation won’t make much money while the 177guest taproom and dining area inside remain empty.
“It’s going to be difficult for a while. But we’re hoping this will let us get our staff back so they’re working again, and we’ll get to see our regulars,” she said. “We’re very lucky, it’s a family-owned business, so we have relatives helping out. And all the money goes back into the business — buying tents and outdoor tables.”
Haseltine and her husband, Michael, opened Better Half last summer in a 9,000-square-foot building that once housed a CVS.
“As a new business, we were prepared for some hardships,” she said. “But not this.”
Just before 4 p.m., two young women in summer-ready shorts and tank tops hesitated at the open doors of A.C. Petersen Farms restaurant in West Hartford.
Two tables on the patio were filled with diners, while others carried takeout orders to their cars, but everyone was wearing masks. The two women were not.
“We don’t have any,” one said to an employee waiting to take orders behind the counter inside. “Could we call it in? We just want ice cream.”
For the most part, A.C. Petersen owner Catherine Denton said, people have followed the rules and taken mask-wearing and hand sanitizing seriously.
Fran Altvater, Ed Bernstein and their kids, Brynn and Max, chose to wear their homemade masks while they waited for milkshakes and ice cream with hot fudge.
“It’s not that uncomfortable to be safer,” said Altvater, of West Hartford.
Trickle of shoppers return
Westfarms mall opened its door at 10 a.m. Wednesday to a steady trickle of customers, mall walkers and curious onlookers.
Across the mall, signs reminded customers and walkers to maintain a 6foot distance from one another. Masks were required for entering the mall.
Many of the mall’s stores were not open, including Macy’s, Nordstrom and J. Crew. Those that were had set up sanitizing stations at their entrances.
At American Eagle Outfitters, which held a 60%off sale, a line of mostly young women formed outside the door. A store employee said the store would limit the number of customers inside and require everyone to use hand sanitizer and clean their shoes on a disinfecting mat before shopping.
At Free People, a clothing store, an employee stood by the entrance next to a large dispenser of hand sanitizer.
While some stores were closed until further notice, some used Wednesday’s reopening to prepare for opening their doors later in the week. At J. Jill and Hollister, store employees wiped down displays and rearranged merchandise.
At Corbin’s Corner in West Hartford, the parking lot was mostly empty, in a sharp contrast with the normally busy shopping center.
Best Buy and REI offered curbside pickup and Buy Buy Baby was open. Saks Off Fifth was closed.
“I mostly just wanted to see what was open,” said Shawna Richards, who was walking around the shopping center. “I don’t know if I’ll go in any of the stores that are open because I don’t really need anything, but it’s good to see everyone wearing masks.”
In Wethersfield, the Silas Deane Highway was quieter than normal. The shopping centers there didn’t draw large crowds, as stores that are often popular during daytime shopping hours — including Bed Bath and Beyond, TJ Maxx and HomeGoods — were closed.
But visitors also found darkened retail spaces — Loft, Sephora and Banana Republic among them — with signs on the doors that didn’t say when they’d be open. One pair of shoppers looked into several such stores and finally walked away shaking their heads.
Barbershops left out
Lamont’s administration has curtailed the initial reopening plan slightly since it was announced, pushing back the opening of nail salons, hair salons and barbershops, likely until June 1.
Skip Franco, a West Hartford hairdresser, was sitting in the sun outside Cafe Sofia on Wednesday morning, having a coffee with a friend like he always does. Their table was one of the few occupied on Farmington Avenue.
“We hang out here every morning,” Franco said. “We hold court.”
Franco had been prepared to start cutting hair Wednesday and was dismayed when Gov. Ned Lamont delayed the reopening date for barbershops and beauty parlors until early June. Customers have called asking for appointments, he said.
“I was very disappointed,” he said. “I was all set to go, got all my tools.”
Back at his usual coffee spot, Franco was asked whether he would charge customers extra because their hair was longer than usual.
“Actually I’ve had people ask me that,” Franco said with a chuckle. “So I say, ‘Right now I’m going to be charging extra for cutting off the ponytails.’ ”