As many of us know, local Holly Springs retailers and restaurants have been significantly impacted by the coronavirus. In this new environment where everyone is required to stay at home, our local businesses are transforming their businesses to meet customers’ demands and keep their businesses open.
Many restaurants in particular have switched to ordering online, curbside pickup or a very limited takeout option, only allowing a certain amount of customers in their dining room at a time. This has vastly transformed how we engage and support local businesses. It’s also allowed them to continue to pay some of their staff, while still providing delicious food to their patrons. The support from the community has been tremendous.
After speaking with Holly Springs resident Claudia Tumulty regarding her choice to use DoorDash to order dinner for her family, she shared that supporting local businesses now is more important than ever.
“We have been making an effort to remember to support our local restaurants during this difficult time because we want to do our part to help them make it through this,” Claudia explained. “We have so many awesome local restaurants in Holly Springs and want to keep it that way!”
Other local businesses are thinking of outside-of-the-box tactics to engage their typical customer base, as people hunker down in their homes and only venture outside for absolutely mandatory trips.
For example, on Saturday, March 28, Hope Tyler Home Team hosted a virtual music bingo, providing a bingo card to more than 50 participants via email. Each player dialed in to a Zoom conference line and listened to DJ Jason Johns play a snippet of a song. The participant had to match the 30-second clip to the song title on their card, if available. Once someone of course reached five in a row, they were encouraged to type “bingo!” in the Zoom chat box to win a local business gift card. Twenty-five-dollar gift cards were handed out to four local businesses: Osha Thai Kitchen & Sushi, My Way Tavern, Wingin’ It Bar and Grille and Mama Bird’s Ice Cream.
Brittany Vann Hogin with Sassy and Social Marketing assembled the virtual event, expressing how important it is to support local businesses, especially during this season.
“When you buy something from a local business, you’re helping them pay their mortgage, continue supporting their kid in dance lessons, put food on the table and more,” shared Brittany.
A participant from the virtual music bingo night moved to Holly Springs in the last couple of years to settle down after her husband retired from the Army.
“We settled in Holly Springs, and it’s exactly the type of town we want to raise our son in. We want to support our neighbors who are local business owners,” said Cariann Colman.
Local retailers, like Pace Yourself Run Company, have changed the way they do business to simply stay afloat. In addition to curbside pickups, they offer at-home deliveries. Simply purchase your order online, give them a call and they will bring your order directly to your house. As a result of Pace Yourself continuing to keep its doors open, a Holly Springs runner shared why she shops local instead of shopping at big-box retailers for all her running needs.
“As a prior small business owner, I understand the impact small businesses go through during economic hardships,” said Jessie Krieger. “The owners at Pace Yourself Run Company are all local people trying to support their families, like me and you. Even a small purchase can make all the difference.”
And we all know the emotional toll this is placing on us, our families and friends. While stuck inside all day, we are searching for things to break the cycle, including new ways to shop or new things to try. Former local business owners recognize this emotional toll and have banded together to support Holly Springs local businesses.
Liana Weitz from Holly Springs knows firsthand what local business support looks like, as she described her own experience working on the family farm way back when. Liana said she empathetically understands what a family does when they own a business, how many hours are put in – the blood, sweat and tears it takes to bring together a vision and a dream. Explaining what it means for small business owners to receive even a little extra income when the business is down can mean, “the difference between paying the rent, putting food on the table or making the hard decision to close it all down.”
Liana says it is on this belief that she shops local whenever she can. From visiting the Holly Springs farmer’s market to hiring local repair businesses, if there’s an issue around the house—repairing the deck, home renovations, installing flooring—she hires a local business to support.
In addition to showing local businesses a little love while of course practicing social distancing and local and state ordinances, she shares a friendly reminder why to shop local.
“I think many of us are from another city, another town, another state. But we chose Holly Springs to be our home. We liked the small-town feel, the sense of community, the friendliness of a neighborhood. The ability to have children play together in groups down at the park—for parents to be able to sit on the sidelines at a soccer game and chat. It is this hometown feel that makes each of us neighbors and friends.”
We asked some local businesses to weigh in on this. This is what they had say:
– When the virus first hit, we, along with so many business owners, felt cold fear on two counts. First, that the virus would hurt our loved ones and community. Second, that, overnight, we could lose our dream, our business and source of income, and our employees would also lose their incomes as well. We had no idea how to plan, because the news kept shifting every few hours. What we did know was whatever happened, we had to quickly adapt, be clear on our intention and be sure to keep us and our beloved customers safe.
The order came for restaurants to shut down in-house business and our industry went into crisis. We asked ourselves profound questions. How could we best serve these new public needs? We knew that we would be an important option for our customers’ food choices. Not only could we provide a safe, reliable food source, but also a welcome relief to house-bound families as they looked for quality food that was also delicious and fun. We took action right away. We adapted a new normal. Sterilizing, hand-washing, scrubbing down, disinfecting all surfaces constantly became part of our new hyper-awareness routine. Doors, chairs, tables, counters, pens, anything that might be touched under any circumstance has come under a new sterilizing protocol. We bought a thermometer to take regular temperatures of our staff to ensure everyone is healthy at all times. Curbside pickup is refining and has become routine, as well as payment ahead of time, and an option to not sign a charge receipt.
And, true to Holly Springs form, the community has shown up for us and for Holly Springs small business as a singular force. The enthusiastic support to protect all small business, the steadfast engagement with our company, and profound appreciation for our efforts to keep safe and open for business was immediate and has been a powerful example of the Holly Springs Community we were so lucky to join. The spirit of the community to come at this crisis with collective intelligence, strength and grace has been a blessing for all.
Our ACME mission statement, to “Serve the Best Food with the Most Love”, has never been more relevant. We miss the in-house business: the smiling families, the dating sweethearts, the fun-loving groups big and small, the business lunches, the solitary diner who just wants to eat great food and be happy. But we know that right now, serving with love means safely protecting those same people by being diligent about safety and precaution. We know we will be able to give them all a hug again soon.
Challenging traumatic events are a necessary component of a meaningful life. By putting good energy out there, you attract it back.
We are built for relationships .
Gwynne LaRussa
ACME Pizza
– This pandemic has hit all of us hard. We are fortunate that take-out has always been part of our business model, but we never anticipated it ever being our *entire* business model. I can’t imagine how difficult this has been for the area retail establishments that have had to completely revamp their service delivery models, or worse, completely close their doors. Our heart hurts for everyone.
Our staff has been resilient and strong, despite our reduced hours. Our employees are our family and it is very important that we take care of them throughout this ordeal. To that end, Dan and I have given up our salaries for the duration of this pandemic to make sure our staff not only survives, but thrives. Nothing is more important to us.
Our customers have been amazing. They have bought git certificates for future use. They have bought take out meals and posted their photos on social media to promote us. After a very slow past week, they responded in droves to our Friday afternoon social media posts and gave us the best single-day online ordering day EVER.
Holly Springs is amazing.
Our customers are amazing.
We are so fortunate that after 17+ years in business here, people have decided that they will NOT let us fail. This community is our heart and soul. The countless schools and non-profits that we have supported over the years have come back to support us in kind. We will get through this. It won’t be easy. But with this town and these people… we will get through this together. And we couldn’t be more grateful.
Kimberly Henry
Homegrown Pizza
