Getting to Know: How COVID Hit

COVID threw a twist into everyone’s lives. The nation-wide lockdown required a lot of small businesses to close their doors for a couple of months, and for some, permanently. The Candle Mercantile had to shut down their store, along with many others at the middle of March until the end of May. With TCM having just opened in June of 2019, so just a short eight months later, they were not prepared to close down. During this time, the owners actually had to lay off all of their employees, but were fortunate enough to hire them all back on when doors reopened.

Pre COVID times at TCM were different than what it is now. Before, the bar was lined with trays available for anyone to come sit and pour at any time of the day. With the gradual reopening of the store, they have adjusted to making reservations and limiting the bar for those coming to pour. I happened to join the team right when they reopened after the lockdown. We started with only retail sales. In order to limit contact or interactions, and maintaining distancing, we did not allow customers to come in and pour, but to only shop our premade retail wall. There was a lot of sanitizing and store capacities enforced at the very beginning, which of course, was not ideal in a candle making shop. As guidelines continued to change, we began to allow customers to pour once again, and to return to how things used to be.

While COVID definitely threw a wrench in a lot of TCM plans, it also allowed for the small business to grow in different ways. Once the lockdown started, the owners were forced to create an online store. Something in their short eight months of being open, they had not gotten around to yet. Luckily, they already had a loyal client base that continued to purchase from them remotely over lockdown. Another key takeaway that helps the business to run more smoothly is making reservations. This helps to allow the store to be properly staffed for the number of reservations coming in that day and to make sure we can accommodate everyone.