GREENSBORO, N.C. — The staff at Spare Time Greensboro is excited to welcome their guests back starting at 5 p.m. Friday night, to kick-off phase 2.5 in North Carolina.
Governor Roy Cooper announced Tuesday, businesses like bowling alleys, gyms, and museums can reopen starting Friday night with capacity limits.
General Manager Jack Freysinger said he's been preparing for this day for months, after initially closing down March 17.
"We’ve been waiting, cleaning, organizing, sanitizing, and finally we can get back to having fun and doing what we do best and that’s taking care of our guests," said Freysinger.
Spare Time Greensboro said guests should be social distancing throughout the facility. The business will be setting guests apart in every other lane, and requiring masks.
"We’ve drilled out every single finger hole from the house balls. We’ve polished everything," said Freysinger, "We’ve never been cleaner and more inviting to our guests now we have the protocols to be able to move forward and make it just as fun as it ever has been."
As excited as Freysinger is to greet guests again, he knows they're just as excited to come back.
"From the moment we closed our doors all the way through the summer we’ve been getting 10, 15, 20 calls a day, 'Hey, are you open yet? Hey, is your laser tag running yet? Hey, when can we come get a pizza?'" said Freysinger.
Angel Putnam, owner of Pigtails and Crewcuts in Greensboro and Winston-Salem, knows the excitement that comes with getting the clearance to reopen again.
Putnam reopened her business at the start of phase 2 back in May. She's grateful to be back open, but said the reopening road has been a long one.
"Our costs are higher. We’re seeing, I know myself, I’m seeing 53 percent less in my business than what I was seeing prior to COVID," said Putnam.
Putnam said she's spending triple on supplies to cover cleaning and PPE for staff and customers, and that doesn't mix well with a 50 percent decline in business.
The salon owner also applied for Economic Injury Disaster Loans and Paycheck Protection Program loans but said as a small business, it's only put further in debt.
"It’s sad that small businesses are having to put themselves more in debt in order to stay open for no reason and fault of their own," she said.
Her advice to other businesses getting the chance to reopen is to stay positive.
"Be patient. Don’t lose hope. It’s not going to be a flood gate," she said, "There’s still a lot of people and a lot of families that are hesitant to come out so my number one thing is be patient. It’s a long road and I’m hoping that the light at the end of the tunnel starts showing."