Newsom, retail bosses brainstorm reopening ideas
Gov. Gavin Newsom met with retail executives and a retail worker this week to mark the inaugural session of a digital listening tour to collect viewpoints about how to reopen an economy that government agencies have shut down to curb health dangers posed by the coronavirus.
“I can only imagine the frustration when you hear from people like us, me, mayors, health directors and we say, ‘Hey, you can open up with 25 percent capacity,’ you probably sit there rolling your eyes, saying these guys just don’t have a clue,” Newsom said at the outset of the meeting.
Those varying views from the front lines of retailers, both large and small, arrived early and often during the meeting.
“Our employees and our customers are anxious to get back to normal, some semblance of re-engagement,” said Sonia Syngal, chief executive officer with San Francisco-based Gap, an apparel retailing titan. Syngal told the governor and other state leaders at the Tuesday meeting that “We want to work with you and the state government to be the gold standard for what safe retail looks like.”
Gap has about 250 stores in China, deemed by many experts to be the origin country of the coronavirus. Syngal said the stores in China conduct nightly deep cleaning, require social distancing for customers and employees, and mandate masks. Plexiglass barriers have been installed at checkout stands.
The Zoom digital meeting was part of the governor’s task force that’s looking at ways to reopen California businesses in a safe and healthy fashion before restrictions imposed by state and local governments throttle the state’s frail economy.
Jim Mayfield, the principal owner of Rainbow Ag, a Ukiah-based agricultural feed, equipment, and services firm, said he’s never seen anything like this in his decades in the retail business.
“It’s been a real challenge,” Mayfield said. “I’ve been doing this for 40 years. This is by far the biggest challenge that I’ve ever experienced.”
Rainbow Ag and its employees have been forced to be nimble during the business restrictions.
“We have revised how can we function over the past five weeks at least a dozen times,” Mayfield said.
Mayfield also urged state officials to not craft restrictive, one-size-fits-all rules for reopening.
“Let us be entrepreneurial within the guidelines,” Mayfield said. “Make those guidelines as broad as you can, and hold us accountable. You’ve got to free up the entrepreneurs and let them respond to this and I think you’ll be surprised.”
Marielle Deguia, who worked at a store in San Jose’s Santana Row before the merchant furloughed employees, said the store operations typically called for customers and store employees to be in close quarters with each other. Asked by the governor about that, Deguia indicated that it could be tricky to replicate pre-virus working conditions.
“It will be a very interesting dynamic to come back after everything that’s happened,” Deguia said.
Myrick Wilson, the owner of Mad Illustrators, a graphics designer and screen printer in Fresno, said his company will likely revamp its business model. The company often sells T-shirts to sports fans or people attending sporting events — which could face major restrictions in how they are held and attended.
“We are just really trying to restructure and reframe our business,” Wilson said. “There’s a good chance we will close down the retail component where people can just walk in. We just don’t know. We have the capability to send products out, we have the capability to operate wholesale.”
The governor pointed out that while it’s crucial to ensure that California is healthy and that individuals who have been isolated socially also stay healthy, it’s also vital to assure a healthy economy.
“The economic health of our communities is foundational,” Newsom said.
Mayfield, the Ukiah retailer, posed the crucial question that countless merchants must ponder in the coming days, weeks, and months.
“Should we let people come into the store?
It keeps me up at night,” Mayfield said.
More than a few retailers had become restless after weeks of being closed, the 41-minute session showed.
“I’m ready to start solving some problems,” said Judson Heard, a store manager in Southern California with Patagonia, an outdoor clothing store. “There is a feeling of sitting on the sidelines.”
Still, consumers won’t necessarily stampede to get back into stores right after retail doors start to reopen.
“Demand is going to be driven by the consumers,” Heard said. “I’ve got 25 employees who right now are not working. Even if I come back with a miniwarehouse, I’m not going to have the demand for all of those employees to come back. That’s something I’m trying to weigh out right now.”