The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

DESPITE a sharp slump in sales due to the COVID-19 threat, some businesses in New Providence told The Tribune adjusting staffing in any way is a last resort.

For now, a wait and see approach is being taken, three local retailers said. They spoke to The Tribune ahead of Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announcing a national curfew beginning today until March 31. The curfew is from 9pm to 5am. Under additional emergency measures announced by Dr Minnis yesterday, all businesses, offices and stores except those listed as exempt are to remain closed.

“I am going to keep my staff as long as I can,” Sandy’s Limited owner Jack Moree said when he was contacted yesterday.

Mr Moree said this week he began seeing sales fall off, but he is determined to keep his four locations open.

“We are getting some crumbs here and there and this started this week. We got some people with a bunch of kids coming in the store, breaking up the store. They are not keeping kids away from anything and I have no intention right now of closing unless the government puts a curfew or says for everyone to close.

“That’s the only way that I am going to do it.”

However, Mr Moree told this newspaper he could only hope for the best.

“It’s going to be a horrible year business-wise especially because everything is done out of China and that’s at a standstill so we just got to wait and see what happens. I am prepared to do whatever I am told to do.

“If any of my staff gets ill, I’ll tell them to stay their tails home, but until then I see no reason to close down. I am keeping my staff as long as I can. If they go I am going to tell them they all have vacations set but that’s going to have to change if we have to close so that they can have some money, you know?

“I got to pay them for the holidays but I can’t close down and not pay them and so it’s a change for everybody in the world but if that is the case whose not on vacation will have to go on vacation and they’ll get paid for the vacation and leave.

“Hopefully it’ll be over in the next couple of months, but that’s all we can do is hope.”

For Marlin Marine and Bayshore Marina, business is virtually “non-existent”.

Loran Pyfrom, general manager, said the executive team has a plan that outlines what it’ll do if things get worse, but he is hoping it doesn’t get that far.

“Our executive team has put a plan together that if necessary we’ll roll out in steps. It’s pretty much what everybody else is already doing, but I wanted to give it a little bit longer and a little chance.

“We have been lucky enough to be doing fairly well before so we want to try and keep the employees for as long as we can and what I have noticed is that people seem to be working harder and it’s giving us a little bit of time to catch up on some things that we maybe had neglected and I see the staff coming together and consciously tying up the loose ends, but if things do not change in the near future we are going to have to start rolling out those steps.

“…Asking people to take vacation leave (or) reduced hours and then of course we don’t want to. We value everybody but if we have to lay off we would start with temporary lay offs and just keep assessing the situation.”

Employees are valuable, a manager at A G Electric said.

The manager there said staff have been assisted to make things easier under the circumstances that the coronavirus has created.

“We implemented from last week additional safety measures for our staff in terms of disinfectants and gloves. We are not wearing masks and those have been taken well by the customer even last week when we started with the gloves,” the manager said.

The store was planning on reducing hours ahead of Dr Minnis’ curfew announcement. The store’s owners had considered completely closing, but ultimately decided not to.

“We are not planning to lay anyone off and the staff have been very much in agreement with the decision that we made and presented yesterday and we even offered them going home if they feel like it’s unsafe.

“No one volunteered and we felt good about the fact that they felt comfortable with the measures that we currently have in place and the fact that they can continue to work.”