On Monday, March 23rd, Governor Hogan issues an executive order closing nonessential businesses.
For seven weeks our local retail establishments, restaurants, as well as many of our health and wellness providers, service providers, and nonprofit organizations have been forced to shutter their businesses in part or in whole.
To say it has been a struggle would be an understatement and, while we are inundated with stories from our members who are daily struggling to maintain their livelihood, we think it’s time to focus on action – what we can do to help improve this situation now and as we move into the future.
While an influx of financial support is something every business can use, we understand that every member of our community is facing challenges right now and opening your wallet may not be the easiest thing to do. However, as you elect to make more thoughtful choices with your spending, we encourage you to also make an effort to support some of the small businesses that make Frederick so vibrant and unique so that we can hold onto more of what we love about this awesome city, county, and community.
5 Things You Can Do Now to Support Frederick Small Business As We Prepare to Reopen
Remember to be patient and kind.
Maintenance of service has not been easy and return to service will be a process.
Many restaurants, ill-equipped for a take out only existence, have struggled significantly to find their groove. Retailers have floundered with creating dynamic, shoppable sites to allow their customers to continue to choose them. Even service providers have been overwhelmed with creating new policies and procedures to meet the demands of social distancing.
This will continue.
As businesses come back online under the more stringent rules of our new normal, they will be asked to dig deep into their creative toolboxes to provide services to their customers in a way that allows them to be successful. And this process won’t always be seamless.
As a customer, anticipate mix ups, plan for longer wait times, and fortify your patience. Your local business owners are grateful for your support, but they’re people too – facing countless challenges that extend well beyond the walls of their business to include kids at home doing distance learning, partners who may be out of work, and family members who may be sick or vulnerable.
If you choose to enter a business and support them, and we sincerely hope you do, we also hope you’ll be understanding if things don’t go as expected each time.
Joshua Tjin from Wok In Wok Out said it best, “We know in the US especially, take out and dining out is very popular, so instead of closing our restaurant and looking for grant money to pay our bills, we decided to keep our doors open and serve our community. A lot of front liners are putting their lives at risk, but so are restaurant employees. We are overwhelmed with to-go orders, Uber Eats and Grubhub deliveries – and while this is a blessing, it can bring its own unique challenges. As the lockdown continues and there are fewer restaurants to choose from, and more people are ordering out, it is more likely that due to the increased volume – mistakes occasionally happen or orders may take longer than usual to prepare…after all, we are only human and adapting as best we can. We are happy to make any mistake that is made right, as our goal is, and always has been, to make our customers happy.”
You can read is full post here: Wok In Wok Out Owner Message
Think about supporting all businesses… not just restaurants.
Restaurants make sense, we all have to eat and we’re all pretty sick of cooking at this point. But, restaurants aren’t the only casualties of COVID economy.
Several industries are facing unprecedented losses now – tourism, retail, nonprofit and event based businesses are desperate to find creative ways to save themselves.
The Chamber, as a local nonprofit can easily attest to the challenges all businesses are facing – we all need support right now because our bottom lines are taking an unprecedented hit right now.
Continue to order curbside delivery and take out. Continue to support local Frederick farmers with meat and vegetable orders. But think about how you can also support our other local businesses whenever the opportunity arises.
- Hire a local accountant to help you finally file those taxes.
- Go to a local nursery to order the flowers you want to decorate your porch for spring.
- Donate time, money, or goods to a Frederick nonprofit.
- Get your beer from a local brewery and your coffee from a local seller.
- Pay your membership dues so the organizations you’re apart of can continue to function.
- Use a Frederick retailer’s online system to order a gift for a friends’ upcoming birthday.
- Take a virtual fitness class or a virtual art class from a local facility.
- Purchase gift cards for future use at businesses that will reopen in the future.
- Think of other ways you can let your community know you’re here.
Support local businesses on social media.
Like their posts. Leave comments. Share when they post about their current menus and options.
It only takes a moments to engage with a post, but it could help increase that business’s reach immensely.
Want to make sure you see when your favorite business posts?
Make sure you mark “see first” on your follow settings for the page so you don’t miss anything.
Write a review.
It may take a few extra moments, but if you have a positive experience, particularly under COVID-19 restrictions, taking a moment to write a review for a business could be very helpful.
Spread the word.
Frederick has done a great job of uniting the community and creating several online space where members of the public can connect to help businesses. From the over 20k member strong Frederick County Take Out Group to Shop Local Frederick, the public page where businesses of all kinds can promote their deals/specials, there are plenty of places to help keep the public informed.
Join a group, follow our page, and share when you have info to help support local businesses.
Frederick Chamber Insights is a news outlet of the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce. For more information about membership, programs and initiatives, please visit our website.
Member events featured here are taken directly from our member calendar.To be sure your events are included, please submit them into the calendar at least 10 days before the event day.