MARTINEZ, Calif. (KRON) - Business owners in Martinez say they have long feared a winter shut down because of the virus and now it's finally here.
Restaurants are already downsizing operations and salons are closing up shop.
Citrus Salon in Martinez has already been shut down twice during the pandemic, totaling about 22 weeks, and it's happening again.
"I'm, I'm very disappointed, and I'm you know, just of course emotional. You know, six months of this year, I looked at an empty salon," Candice Gliatto said.
Owner Candice Gliatto forced to cease operations for at least three weeks now that Contra Costa County health services are implementing the state's regional shelter-in-place early.
Hair salons and barbershops have to close this weekend under the new order for at least three weeks.
“We're already working with smaller margins, so having to be closed and continue to pay our rent and to keep up other expenses is extremely challenging," Gliatto said.
Roxx on Main will be allowed to continue serving food but like all other restaurants, indoor and outdoor dining will be prohibited.
They are only allowed take-out and pick-up orders.
"It's frightening," Leslie Styles said.
Owner Leslie Styles says the elimination of indoor dining last month was bad enough.
Now without outdoor dining, she says more layoffs could be coming and she is already reducing the amount of food she orders from vendors.
"I'm really shopping by hand at this point because I'm saving money and I'm only buying small amounts of stuff. You know, our cupboards are bare. I'm getting the minimum we need to feed the people that we have," Styles said.
This is among the last groups of people to dine out here for a while.
"It's a scary time right now," Julie O’Brien said.
Atticchild Furniture and other retailers can remain open but with capacity limited to 20-percent and a metering system required for customers.
The business says it struggled during the first shelter in place because foot traffic halted when other stores closed.
"We'll take a hit. Everyone will take a hit. Everyone in every kind of business is going to take a hit," Gwendolyn Monroe said.
Without a federal stimulus package in sight, these businesses are left to wonder, really how they're going to make this work.
They're hoping this is not the last stand.
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