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Local businesses grateful for support during COVID-19 challenges

'I think people realized over the last year that it’s important to shop local as much as you can.'

Robyn Moser S2.jpg
Robyn Moser helps Craig Hayenga pick out a suit coat at The Stag Saturday morning in downtown Worthington. (Tim Middagh/The Globe)

WORTHINGTON — There’s no doubt the past 12 months were difficult for local business owners as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nevertheless, a feeling of gratitude remains prevalent — a sense of thankfulness for the support they received during multiple months of adversity.

“I have to say that community support was amazing,” said Robyn Moser, who owns The Stag on Worthington’s 10th Street. “People would either call or email or go on Facebook looking for things. It was really great that a lot of people reached out to still shop and support their local businesses.”

“I think people realized over the last year that it’s important to shop local as much as you can,” added Matt Kennedy, managing partner and owner of Worthington’s Brown Shoe Fit on 10th Street. “We’ve been down compared to prior years, but people have been awesome. When you don’t have people coming in your door, you can’t match what you did before.

Kennedy, Moser and other business owners were forced to close their doors last March following an executive order from Gov. Tim Walz. As long as those doors remained locked, the goal was simply to persevere.

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“I closed my doors on March 27 at 5:30 p.m.,” Moser recalled. “I put the key in the door and was like, ‘I’ll never forget this day.’

“It’s pretty scary when everybody’s in the same boat,” she continued. “I didn’t have any business people here who had been in something like this before. It was very nerve-wracking.”

For Amanda Walljasper-Tate, the situation was slightly different in that her business, The Daily Apple, remained open. As she sells items that include nutritional supplements and food, The Daily Apple was classified as an essential business.

“We are so grateful that we were able to be open … but we were shipping a lot more packages in the beginning and doing a lot more curbside orders,” she said.

“The reality is sales were down at both brick and mortar stores,” added Walljasper-Tate, who also has a store in Storm Lake, Iowa. “The positive was that vitamins and essential oil sales were up over last year, though of course things like gifts and clothing weren’t selling nearly as much.”

Doing business curbside was also a way that Moser, Kennedy and others did business while their inside retail spaces had to be closed. Moser recalled reopening The Stag’s doors on May 18, but it wasn’t as if she was completely idle up to that date.

“I also had people ... ordering gift certificates to be used at future purchases,” she said. “For example, I had a customer who called me and said they were going to take a $300 gift certificate. They said, ‘it’s for us — we'll give you the money now, we’ll spend it (certificate) later.”

Individuals also made purchases at The Stag for events they hoped would happen later in the year, but ultimately didn’t, because of the pandemic.

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“I think everybody was just trying as best as they could to support each other,” Moser said. “Anybody I knew would be open ... or if people would call, I’d certainly encourage people to call other businesses if I didn’t have what they wanted. And, I think everybody was trying to accommodate our customers.”

Kennedy said business at Brown’s, despite only being able to do curbside sales and shipping for several weeks, was more significant than he’d anticipated it would be. Customer support has also been strong once the lockdown ended.

“Ever since we reopened, the support and the local push had been phenomenal,” he said. “There’s been a rallying-around feeling that has just been sustained.”

Local eateries were greatly affected by the pandemic, as doors closed and later reopened for outdoor dining, thanks in part to changes in city ordinance. Forbidden Barrel Brewing Co., for example, greatly expanded its food menu to serve more customers.

“We’d always intended on doing a little more food than what we started with, but COVID probably made us speed up that process to make some of those investments to serve more people,” Forbidden Barrel co-owner Brent Droll told The Globe for its Aug. 12 editon.

Meanwhile, at the same time Forbidden Barrel was moving forward in one way, The Daily Apple was, too, but in another sense.

“It really took us back to our roots,” Walljasper-Tate said, noting her store’s long-ago origins (She originally purchased her business as Schafer’s Health Center). “It seems like more than ever, people are choosing natural options and looking to take better care of their health.

“One of the big things we noticed is we definitely spent more time listening to customers,” she continued. “People have been more lonely. … Everyone, a year ago, wanted stuff for immune support and in the last four to six months there has definitely been a shift to natural things or emotional support.”

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Moser and Walljasper-Tate both shared their optimism that business will continue to improve as time goes on and COVID becomes less and less of a concern.

“Some people I know are still very cautious and some are feeling a lot more comfortable,” Moser said, adding that she’s also thrilled to see high school students coming in again and looking at clothing for prom, and couples are also planning weddings once more. “I think people are more comfortable now that there are vaccines and people have been receiving them.

“I just appreciate all the people that have been coming in and helping me out.”

“With anything in life, you have to be able to roll with the punches and make things work,” added Walljasper-Tate.

“We’re so excited to continue to see people coming out,” she continued, explaining that an in-person experience offers multiple benefits in comparison to online shopping. “We’re so thankful for their support.”

Ryan McGaughey arrived in Worthington in April 2001 as sports editor of The Daily Globe, and first joined Forum Communications Co. upon his hiring as a sports reporter at The Dickinson (North Dakota) Press in November 1998. McGaughey became news editor in Worthington in November 2002 and editor in August 2006.

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