Restaurants, businesses reopen to the new normal
By Ashleigh Plemper
Farmer Staff Writer
After Gov. Doug Burgum lifted restrictions and allowed for a gradual reopening of businesses throughout the state of North Dakota on May 1, many Watford City businesses have been jumping for joy, while others in the restaurant industry are still recovering from their losses that resulted from the closure in order to prevent spreading the coronavirus (COVID-19) that limited them to only providing delivery and take-out services.
“When we opened back up on May 4, and people could come inside, it was like Christmas for a lot of them,” says Josslyn Dodds of Barrett Pharmacy & Variety. “They were like gosh, we can really come in and shop?”
While the traffic flow of shoppers coming into her store has picked up, Dodds says business still doesn’t match its typical frequency of customers and believes it will be a while before people’s shopping tendencies adjust back to normal.
“It’s been slower,” Dodds says. “People are divided into two groups. They’re either carefree and think everything is good, or they’re concerned. And it’s half and half. Half of the people are wearing protective masks and half aren’t.”
As Dodds isn’t forcing customers to do anything specifically in the wearing of face masks, she’s still gently nudging them to use common sense and do the right thing in order to protect their fellows from the spread of germs.