Two more weeks of coronavirus shutdown will be an ‘eternity’ for Belleville shops
Owners of Belleville specialty shops considered “nonessential” under Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order issued to control the spread of coronavirus were looking to see if they could get some relief from the governor on Thursday.
But it didn’t happen.
Pritzker had been asked by area elected officials to allow some nonessential businesses to reopen Friday instead of waiting until the end of the month, but he did not grant the request to reopen stores that have been closed to foot traffic since March because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This county sure helped get him elected and boy what a slap in the face that is,” said Roger Wigginton in reference to St. Clair County voters who supported Pritzker.
Wigginton owns a West Main Street clothing store considered nonessential by the state. He also is an alderman representing Belleville’s Ward 8.
“Very, very disappointing” is how Wigginton summed up his feelings on Thursday regarding Pritzker’s decision.
St. Clair County Chairman Mark Kern said the governor’s office told him they were “looking at” the plan proposed by metro-east leaders.
“We’ll see how those discussions go,” Kern said.
Pritzker has released a five-stage plan to reopen Illinois’ economy, with the state divided into four regions based on available healthcare facilities. Southern Illinois currently in the second phase but, based on the key metrics, is on trend to moved into the third phase by May 29.
Kern and other state and local leaders asked if the region could move to the third phase Friday.
In phase three, nonessential retail, salons, barbershops and manufacturing would be allowed to reopen with precautions and capacity limits.
Wigginton, who has operated the Don Rodgers clothing store for 44 years, said waiting until the end of the month will be hard for mom and pop stores, especially since malls will be reopening in St. Louis on Monday and the Illinois stores will miss being open on the Memorial Day holiday weekend that kicks off Friday, May 22.
“This is a real kick in the head,” he said. “If you don’t have a livelihood, you don’t have a life.”
With the Missouri shops opening and Illinois stores being closed to the public for two months, Wigginton said the next two weeks will be “an eternity” for small businesses.
Wigginton said his business at 6727 W. Main St. is down sharply since he had to lock the doors to the public. He declined to release the percentage of drop in revenue compared to the previous year but said he’s gotten some business by serving customers by appointment only.
“When you’ve got a wife that’s ill and you’ve got bills to pay, you know, you’ve got to step up to the plate,” he said.
Nationwide in April, retail sales were down 16.4%, according to a CNBC report Friday. This was worse than the 12.3% economists predicted.
Downtown Belleville shops
Shopkeepers of specialty stores on Main Street in downtown Belleville have had to endure a spring in which Art on the Square was canceled and they’ve had to lock their doors.
Andria Powell, owner of Circa Boutique + Gifts at 128 E. Main St., said she’s tried to maintain a relationship with her customers during the lockout by increasing her online presence.
Circa, which has undergone a massive renovation in the past year, temporarily turned its floor space into a “studio” to accommodate all the extra record keeping needed for online promotions of clothing and gifts for sale.
Powell said she believes a store of her size can regulate social distancing for shoppers and keep the building sanitized.
“We would be the kind of store that could certainly keep track of our customers,” she said Thursday.
Powell said she would have liked to have seen stores like hers be allowed to open to the public on Friday.
Another downtown shop, Beatniks at 215 E. Main St., has been taking more email orders for its custom-made T-shirts, said owner John Bigalke.
Bigalke, who said he now has face masks as well as T-shirts, also said he would love to see specialty shops get a chance to reopen.
In keeping with his tradition of offering T-shirts with humorous themes, Bigalke said, “We have a whole line of great looking plague wear.”
One shirt had the message “Social Distancing World Champion” next to a silhouette of folklore’s Bigfoot.
This story was originally published May 15, 2020 at 12:53 PM.
