By Mia Glass
“No one was really buying anything until I brought in face masks,” said Kathleen Goullet, owner of the Lotus Way boutique in Fair Haven.
Like Goullet, many small business owners are feeling stressed as they try to cope with the dramatic changes the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to retail. With brick-and-mortar stores closed to shoppers, they were forced to find other ways to keep customers buying.
In addition to changing her products – Goullet purchased a large bulk order of masks early in the pandemic – she also had to build an online platform essentially from scratch to take orders. She created a website and increased communication with customers through frequent updates on Instagram and Facebook.
“The website was really time consuming and I’m not really good at these things,” she said. “When I thought I had 80 percent done, I went to a professional and he said I was about 40 percent done.”
Chelsea Delaney, owner of Sadie James in Fair Haven, also needed to revamp the store’s social media presence to promote her business during the lockdown. Sadie James’ website was solely for informational purposes before COVID-19, but just 11 days after being told to shut down, Delaney had the e-commerce aspect up and running.
Purchases can be made through the website with Shopify or “you can shop directly through Instagram, as well as a Facebook shop. This is all very new to me. It’s a whole other job in itself of running the website and trying to stay relevant with clients,” Delaney said.
These local boutiques take orders through their websites, phone or email; shoppers then have the options of delivery or curbside pickup. Although the reduction of in-person purchases is new for these stores, they have always offered delivery services for their local customers.
“That just comes with the level of customer service that we have always offered,” Delaney said.
Going virtual during this time was a necessity, but it is evidently not ideal for the stores or the customers. As part of phase two of New Jersey’s reopening plan, retail shops can reopen June 15 with certain modifications, which Goullet thinks could help business.
“I think people miss being in the store. It’s a bit of a challenge for those that are tactile and want to see and touch and feel things,” said Goullet.
When deciding what to sell in their stores, the owners also enjoy being able to see the fabric in person instead of flipping through a catalog. These small business owners take pride in their level of participation in the sales process.
Many of the owners have had to limit their orders from vendors this season, and are unsure of what the fall and holiday seasons will bring. They are also wary about attending large trunk shows at convention halls like the Javits Center in New York City where they usually purchase much of the clothes for the upcoming season.
Marylouise Van der Wilden, owner of Le Papillon in Rumson, explained that “there aren’t weddings, proms, or graduations all the things that people would come to buy for. We canceled a lot of orders and we’re just really only ordering the bare minimum.”
Most small businesses do not have unlimited funds and they use the profits from each season to purchase for the upcoming ones. Going forward, the owners will have to carefully budget, along with adapting to new business models.
Delaney said she does not know what to expect when she reopens. “Do people want to come back into the store? Do they want to shop? Just because we are able to reopen, does that mean the people will return?” she said.
Despite the anxiety regarding the sustainability of their businesses, these local stores believe the close relationships they’ve cultivated with their customers will help them during these difficult times. The owners are willing to do what they can to accommodate shoppers.
“People come here for things that are different, they can get help, we can special order things for them. We do a lot of personal things for them that big stores don’t do,” said Van der Wilden.
The store owners all believe the pandemic will change retail practices for good. Already, any clothes that are returned have to be disinfected with fabric sanitizer, a practice that will only become harder once stores and fitting rooms open.
For now, the owners are trying to stay positive and take this situation day by day.
“I don’t think it’ll ever go back to what it was. Retail is definitely changing and we just have to go with the flow,” said Van der Wilden.
The article originally appeared in the June 4 – 10, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.
