LIMITED OLD TOWN RETAILERS REOPENING

Protesters at courthouse seek fully reopened local economy

Despite a loosening of the shelter-in-place intended to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the streets of Old Town Eureka were mostly quiet Friday afternoon.

Humboldt County joined the rest of the state in allowing a soft reopening of some businesses that were previously considered inessential, such as bookstores and clothing stores, but many of the city’s restaurants and retail stores, such as The Little Shop of Hers and The Works record store, remained closed.

Those that did reopen, such as the Booklegger, Good Relations and Many Hands Gallery, had shop owners masked, and tables with hand sanitizers and masks blocked entrances.

Large window displays allowed for people to see what the stores were offering.

Astra Burke, the owner of Many Hands Gallery, said reopening in stages was allowing her to ensure proper health and safety protocols were being implemented.

“In this sort of situation where we have a table in our doorway, it’s really easy to keep things pretty sanitized,” Burke said. “I’ve got hand sanitizers, I’ve got the disinfecting wipes for this one surface.”

Like other retail owners, Burke said she’s been working countless hours trying to set up an online platform for her customers to optimize the ability to do curbside pickup and deliveries. Even after getting that set up, Burke said she’s been doing less than a quarter of the sales she usually would.

Nonprofit The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Survey found consumer confidence deteriorated significantly in April following a sharp decline in March, with no certainty of an improvement in the near future.

“Consumers’ short-term expectations for the economy and labor market improved, likely prompted by the possibility that stay-at-home restrictions will loosen soon, along with a reopening of the economy,” said

Lynn Franco, senior director of economic indicators at the nonprofit, in a statement. “However, consumers were less optimistic about their financial prospects and this could have repercussions for spending as the recovery takes hold. The uncertainty of the economic effects of COVID-19 will likely cause expectations to fluctuate in the months ahead.”

While it’s good to see the economy start to reopen, roughly three dozen protesters at the Humboldt County courthouse said they’d like to see the economy fully reopen without restrictions, which they said should apply to more densely populated areas.

Among them was 1st District Supervisor Rex Bohn who said the protesters made an effort to come out and wanted to be heard and he came to listen. He said a lot of what the protesters were saying was “well-directed.”

“Corporate Humboldt’s open,” Bohn said. “Safeway, Target, Costco — all of those are open. I need the moms-and-pops to open, safely and organized.”

PHOTOS BY SONIA WARAICH — THE TIMES-STANDARD Astra Burke, owner of Many Hands Gallery in Old Town Eureka, wipes down a table at the front of her shop where people can pick up orders and purchase items on Friday afternoon. Many of the retail shops that reopened had large windows for customers to see the shops’ wares before making their purchases.

Roughly three dozen people protest the shelter-in-place order at noon at the Humboldt County courthouse on Friday. Protesters said they’d like to see the whole economy reopen, especially since stores owned by giant corporations are allowed to be open and small businesses are not.