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May 7, 2020

What does ‘new normal’ have in store for retail, restaurants?

GNHCC Thursday webinar panelists (clockwise from top left) Sheehan, Kovacs, Phelan, Graves and Dickson.
By Michael C. Bingham

With just under two weeks to go before the state economy’s gradual reopening begins on May 20, retailers and restaurants are trying to predict and plan for what the “new normal” commercial landscape will look like in Connecticut and beyond.

That was the subject of “Preparing for the Reopening,” a Thursday morning webinar hosted by the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce and moderated by Garrett Sheehan, its president and CEO.

Sheehan is a member of the business subcommittee of Gov. Ned Lamont’s Reopen CT task force, a role he shares with Timothy Phelan, president of the Connecticut Retail Merchants Association. Phelan was a panelist on the webinar and discussed how stores and service businesses will reemerge into the world of commerce following two months in involuntary cold storage, when the vast bulk of global commerce migrated to online merchants.

“Any discussion around retail now is solely about survival,” said Phelan. “I can make an argument that [the shutdown of the economy] has forever changed retail, and that the brick-and-mortar retail store is going to be extremely under stress as they’ve never been before” because of the forced transition to online shopping during the pandemic.

“Or I can also go the other way [and argue that] more and more [consumers] realize that local retail stores are a really important part of their community,” Phelan said, “and that they want to support that. And I bet there will be more people who want to shop local now than they ever did before.”

No doubt every local retailer hopes Phelan is right. But with 13 days to go before the long-awaited D-Day, how can merchants prepare themselves for reopening to the public?

Independent retailers should be preparing in a number of ways, Phelan said.

For one, “I would think about trying to get in touch with some of your key employees to see if they’re ready to come back,” he said. “I would be thinking about different approaches to customers” who may be gun-shy about returning to in-person shopping .

For retailers of perishable items, stores will have to be restocked nearly from scratch after two months of being closed, said Phelan, while other retailers such as clothiers will have to integrate new and seasonal items with existing inventory from the late-winter shutdown.

“I would also start thinking about different kinds of signage requirements that may be coming,” Phelan added. Retail stores planning for a May 20 reopening can look to how so-called essential retail stores such as supermarkets have been doing business since mid-March, he said. This will mean re-educating shoppers to new realities such as one-way aisles (to accommodate social distancing) point-of-sale equipment such as plexiglass shields at checkout stations and face coverings for both employees and shoppers.

“We want to be careful as we reopen that we do it safely, that we do it smart and that it’s sustainable,” Phelan said. “We are confident that our members, the retail community, are ready for reopening.”

“We know that the business of retail is relationships with customers,” Phelan added. “We want the customer to feel confident coming back into a retail store — that’s how this is all going to work.”

“You can’t be a product-pusher in this environment,” added panelist Bob Dickson, owner and franchisee of Dale Carnegie sales training. “You have to be a partner with your customers.”

On the restaurant side, Cathy Graves, New Haven’s deputy economic development director, said the city now is exploring options to accommodate restaurants, which in the initial reopening phase will be allowed to welcome customers for outdoor dining only.

Graves said some zoning regulations and restrictions may be modified to allow restaurants greater flexibility to offer patrons more and more attractive al fresco dining options.

“We are looking at closing [some] streets and we have open plazas” that may be used for outdoor dining, Graves said. Setting up seating on public right-of-ways such as sidewalks now requires special permitting, but that may be relaxed at least temporarily so restaurateurs can accommodate more diners. “We’re looking at all options at this point,” she said.

Panelist Andrea Kovacs, vice president for enrollment management and marketing for Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, perhaps spoke for many housebound Connecticut consumers eagerly marking the days until “normal” commerce may begin to resume.

“I miss my dry cleaner,” said Kovacs.

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