Eureka merchants are finding ways to continue to operate under the latest round of restrictions imposed in St. Louis County to stem the spread of COVID-19.
St. Louis County Executive Sam Page announced rules banning indoor dining, forcing restaurants to offer only outdoor seating, carryout and delivery services. Other restrictions limited gatherings to no more than 10 people and reduced many businesses’ customer capacity to 25 percent.
The rules went into effect Nov. 17.
Page said the restrictions would be in place for four weeks, but the St. Louis County Department of Public Health’s orders, called the “Safer at Home Order,” say the measures are “in effect until amended or rescinded.”
Jeff Fitter, owner of Super Smokers, 601 Stockell Drive, said his restaurant struggled with the strictions that were put in place in mid-March at the onset of the pandemic.
“Of course, our customers and our staff are our highest priority here. The safety for them is always going to be the most important,” he said. “My first thought was, ‘Why us?’ Unfortunately, I’m no scientist, but there’s not a whole lot of data that proves the fact that the restaurants are a breeding ground for the virus.”
Fitter said his restaurant has outdoor picnic tables but there is no covering over the outdoor seating.
“A day where the sun’s shining and it’s 70 degrees, that’s awesome,” he said. “Otherwise, we’re going to heavily count on all the carryout and curbside service we can have.”
Fitter said the community has supported his restaurant and others throughout the pandemic, and he expects that to continue.
Fitter said the restaurant has a user-friendly online ordering system.
“The upside to this is the Eureka residents and the surrounding area have stepped up more than I could ever possibly imagine,” Fitter said. “As it relates to the restaurant lockdown, we’re going to keep putting out great barbecue with great customer service.”
Restaurants are not the only businesses feeling the sting of the restrictions.
Robyn Weaver, owner of Robyn’s Nest, a gift and decor shop at 133 S. Central Ave., said she relies on nearby restaurants to help bring in customers.
“I get a lot of foot traffic because of the restaurants,” Weaver said. “It’s not a direct hit, but it does become a direct one.”
Weaver said she has adjusted how she operates to provide a safer and easier shopping experience. She hosts Facebook Live events to show off her inventory and offers virtual shopping and curbside pickup.
“We’re still doing in-person shopping,” Weaver said. “These next few weeks are critical. The majority of my sales come in November and December for holiday time, and so to potentially lose a piece of that market, it is scary.”
Weaver said she is allowing customers to make shopping appointments on her Facebook page for Black Friday and Small Business Saturday.
Weaver said she also has been offering virtual craft classes for $35 to $40.
“Just in general, with all of this this year, you just had to have a positive attitude because if you went down the negativity route, of course the business wasn’t going to survive,” she said. “So, I just had to immediately start going into, ‘What can I do? What can I provide from afar? How do I keep the attention of my customers when I can’t be in the same area with them?’”
Mayor Sean Flower said he believes the restrictions are unfair. (See story on Page 16)
“There’s a lot of collateral damage to the (COVID-19 mitigation) policies. It seems like we only look at the policy,” he said. “We are very focused on one end, and we never look at what’s the damage caused by that or what are the consequences of what we did.”
COVID-19 numbers
In the past 14 days, Eureka has had 164 COVID-19 cases, the St. Louis Department of Public Health reported on Monday. Since March, St. Louis County has had 46,357 cases and 944 deaths.
According to the Jefferson County Health Department, Eureka had 55 active cases as of Monday. Since March, Jefferson County has had a total of 149 cases in Eureka with 94 of those cases being released from isolation.