Local business bounces back after initial struggles due to virus
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Numbers were lower than usual for the Carpet Center after the initial COVID shock, as to be expected; however, they are now on the rise again as we near the end of this unusual summer.
“COVID definitely had an impact. Business slowed somewhat, but there still have been a lot of home improvement projects that we have worked on with our customers,” said Carpet Center owner Gary Venables. “It’s been very different.”
The local flooring store has been working extra on keeping things clean and shortened their hours to do so, while trying to maintain business as normal.
“We have our numbers posted on both doors if people need to reach us after hours,” Venables noted. “All in all people were very understanding for a while, it was kind of a frightening thing. Our installers were afraid to go into homes. Now that has changed and it is getting back to a new normal.”
The initial wave of the virus slowed business down for the first month and a half before things started to pick up.
“It definitely made an impact. Thankfully, the federal government had a payment protection bail out in April there, that helps keep employees paid and on their feet,” Venables explained.
“We had a fair amount of commercial work which kept us busy most of the summer. Now we have summer projects in some homes that we are working in plus quite a few remodels so it’s picking up,” he added.
The majority of commercial work took place at Huron Middle School, the Tiger Activity Center and the Center for Independence, however most of the business has been in residential properties.
“Those who were working from home or unable to get to work, had a lot of the home improvement projects going on that they had been putting off,” said Venables. “So, we had a fair amount of cash and carry. Folks would come in, purchase and then take it home and do it themselves.”
Numbers may have been looking lower for a while, but now they are catching back up quite rapidly.
“For a couple months the revenue just wasn’t there,” Venables noted. “I just looked about a week ago and we are just about back to even again, if not maybe just a tiny bit above. So that is very encouraging.”
