GREENSBORO, N.C. — For nearly ten weeks, businesses in Greensboro have had to completely change. Some closed down completely, others stayed open under new restrictions. Now, more places are welcoming customers back under more regulations to keep them safe.
The Greensboro Chamber of Commerce created a reopen guide for local businesses. It covers everything from how to safely clean certain areas to what's required by law to reopen. They made sure to include a database of local businesses that can supply things like PPE (masks and gloves), signage, services and cleaning supplies.
"As we’ve gone through this unprecedented time, we’ve made sure that we were on the cutting edge of everything available to businesses from financial resources to sanitation resources," President, Brent Christensen said.
One of the businesses on the list is Century Products, LLC. They distribute cleaning supplies and PPE. Owner Brent Hampton says the database comes at a much-needed time for his business.
"Instead of a nice smooth chart we’ve seen peaks and valleys a lot," Hampton said. "In March we saw everyone just rush to fill up the orders to get all the cleaning supplies they can. In April it dropped it off a lot and now we’re starting to see a little bit more normalcy in our order process, not where would you like to be, but it is rising."
Along with the database, the chamber also put together a 10-page reopen guide for members.
"That's making sure your employees feel safe returning to work and your customers feel safe returning to your place of business," Christensen said. "That’s why we instituted this restart guide and put out this database of places in Greensboro and Guilford county where you can get PPE, where you can get sanitation supplies. We want to make sure that we’re starting safely because a safe restart is a fast restart."
As far as what comes next for local businesses, Christensen says he's hopeful.
"I do think there will be a back to normal it’s anybody’s guess as to how long that takes. A lot of economist out there are a lot smarter than I am that are trying to figure out whether this is a U-shape recovery or a V-shaped recovery. I think again we’re all going to have to do our part to make sure everybody’s comfortable in for that recovery to go as quick as possible."