Gig Harbor businesses struggle with cascading coronavirus bans

At first, the effect of the coronavirus scare on Gig Harbor businesses seemed relatively mild.

There was a drop in motel bookings, a few empty tables at restaurants, a slight slowing in retail sales, and — usually a rare sight — a sprinkling of empty parking spaces along Harborview Drive during the weekend.

But the closing of bars and restaurants on Monday dealt what may be a body blow the city’s economy.

Gig Harbor has over 40 restaurants and drive-ins, ranging from fine-dining places like Anthony’s and Table47, to casual pubs like the Tides Tavern. They are a key drawing card in the city’s tourist-centered economy.

Jason Shin, co-owner of Domo Sushi, was trying to absorb the news Sunday night.

“We are already down 50 percent,” he said. “If it gets worse than that, it will be scary.”

“We could just do take-out, but I would still need to have employees.” he said. “We don’t do delivery, and I don’t know if take-out will be enough business. Another problem is the rent. We need to talk to the landlord.”

Acuza Hirasawa, manager at Lucano’s, was fatalistic. “We will shut down if the governor says so,” he said.

Even before the shutdown announcement, business was down almost 80 percent at The Harvester, a popular comfort-food restaurant.

“We cut all the crew’s hours,” said owner Kirby Twepen. “It’s a skeleton crew. We used to have six, seven or eight a day. Now it is down to three.”

To avoid layoffs, “we split it up, and everybody has lost hours,” he said.

Takeout orders up

In a hint for the future, though, takeout orders have been up.

“We have done a ton of to-gos today,” he said Sunday. “And then tons of Uber Eats.”

Uber Eats and other delivery services charge up to 30 percent on each order, however, and that can eat into already-slim margins.

“We may need to raise the price of the food items too to compensate,” said Shin of Domo Sushi.

Most restaurants have high rents and lots of payroll to deal with, Shin added,

“If it’s just for a few weeks, it may not be a big deal, but if the virus gets worse, it could be a month.

“It’s bad for employees, too, if they don’t have a paycheck. We’ve already been cutting down. If we need to shut down the restaurant, they won’t have a job; that will be the biggest problem.”

At Moctezuma’s, a popular Mexican restaurant, will try to stay open to do takeouts and home delivery, said Sean Drought, the chief operating officer.

Business is already down 40 and employee hours “get reduced relative to sales,” hesaid.

The restaurant had been trying everything, he said: “We added curbside delivery. We added kids eat free. We added 20 percent off on takeout orders.”

He’s been running a limited menu, so takeout time is quicker.

Gig Harbor City Administrator Bob Larson said the city is encouraging residents to support restaurants by ordering take-out and delivery meals.

“Restaurants are under great stress, and a lot of people depend on them for their paychecks, so we’re asking people to support them by ordering take-out or delivery,” he said Monday.

Larson said the shutdown will have an effect on the city’s revenues, but it won’t hit until about May, when current sales tax revenues are due, and it is impossible now to calculate the damage.

Hammer Drop

The first blow fell on hotels and motels, right after Gov. Jay Insley’s press conference last Wednesday, during which he announced the closure of some schools and restrictions on large gatherings.

“Wednesday was the big hammer drop,” said Bleu Braaten, general manager of the Best Western Wesley Inn. “Cancellation after cancellation, as fast as we could answer the phone.”

Many were group reservations for events and conferences that have also been canceled, he said. One contractor and his crew canceled because they were scheduled to work at the Women’s Correction Center in Purdy, which had been closed to outsiders.

He said the hotel was now 80 percent empty, about twice the normal rate for winter. But he’s not going to lay off any of his 30 full- or part-time employees.

“We’re still offering a full-service hotel experience, and I need my staff to do that,” he said.

Many of the calls he’s getting now are from bargain hunters, Braaten said, who want to talk down the price of a room. He’s not playing that game, he said.

“We’re not running some sort of garage sale,” he said. “We love our business, but we’re not desperate. We’re still fully staffed and putting on a full guest experience, so we’re not going to be giving rooms away.”

Retail down ‘all across town’

Wayne Zimmerman, executive director of the Gig Harbor Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber was urging its restaurant members to “think outside the box,” and offer services like curbside pickup and home delivery.

“It’s pretty much the same story all across town,” he said. “Fewer people are out and about, patronage at restaurants and retailers is down.”

“It’s the uncertainty that’s driving the panic buying and other behavior,” Zimmerman said. “My wife was at Costco, and people were acting like there was going to be no food tomorrow.”

Zimmerman said he was hearing grumbling from his members at that drastic measures being taken by the governor seemed out of proportion to the threat.

“People are saying, ‘Holy cow, why we are going to such extremes when the number of people infected is still fairly small?’ ” he said.

Even before the closure order, businesses were trying to adopt anti-viral measures like cleaning and limiting the size of groups.

Ocean5, the popular game and bowling space, was limited the size of groups to keep the number of people in the building to 250 at any one time. It was also allowing bowlers to use their own shoes in the alleys, rather than rentals.

At Heritage Distillery, staff were wiping down tables and other surfaces hourly, said manager Nichole Raymond.

“We’re trying to do it very visibly, so people walking by can see it through the windows,” she said.

Business was off last Saturday, she said, but not as much as she had feared.

“It hasn’t been too bad, actually,” she said, even after the coronavirus measures had closed the schools and canceled dozens of events. “It’s a little slower than usual, but people are still coming in.”

In fact, downtown Gig Harbor was not exactly deserted over the weekend. Groups of people, some of them tourists, were walking up and down Harborview Drive, even in the face of a brisk wind.

In the Java and Clay coffee and pottery shop, about a dozen people were at work hand-painting pottery — fewer than usual, said manager Elle Hickman, but enough to stay open for.

Still, said barista Emma Hulst, it was the slowest Saturday for coffee she’s ever seen.

“A thing like this is hard on these little mom-and-pop businesses,” Hickman said.

This story was originally published March 17, 2020 at 12:00 AM.