South Bay Small Business Owners Welcome Beginning Of Curbside Pickup
SAN JOSE (KPIX 5) -- With reopening set to begin in Santa Clara County Friday, officials have reached out to local businesses about how the importance of communicating with the public.
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors President Cindy Chavez is proposing a "community health and business engagement team" with 200 members.
"In order to get robust compliance both with small businesses and the community, it's going to require folks to have a conversation with them," said Chavez. "Talking to people about wearing masks, making sure they have masks, and being able to get the information they need to keep themselves and their families safe."
Small businesses in the South Bay are eager to serve customers again, especially those run by minority residents from hard-hit communities.
At Tinh Thuong Flowers in downtown San Jose, Long Doan is struggling.
"I don't have enough money to pay the rent, for everything," said Doan.
While he had a good Mother's Day weekend, the cancellation of summer weddings has hurt his business. The only thing keeping him afloat are funerals, which are also scaled back because of social distancing.
Sales are down 80 percent. He's hoping curbside pickup will send the signal that things are slowly getting back to normal.
"If they come here and say, 'OK, inside the car.' And I make beautiful flowers for you. And I can deliver in your car. Don't come in my shop," said Doan.
With less than a day to go before curbside pickup begins, Bini Tran cannot wait. His store, Art Cleaners on Santa Clara Street, has seen business drop by 50 percent.
"A lot of my senior customers, they phone us; and when they come here, they like us to do that, to help them," said Tran.
