Long before Lafayette led the state in expanding the type of businesses that could operate during the coronavirus pandemic, Hub City Cycles had looked for ways to attract more customers to its downtown shop.
Hub City Cycles months ago offered customers free pick up and delivery for bike repairs, a service that has become crucial to staying open during the quarantine, owner Megan Arceneaux said.
As one of those businesses not prohibted from operating and not specifically identified as essential, Hub City Cycles fell into a gray area of shops that Mayor-President Josh Guillory declared could operate within the stay-home order issued by Gov. John Bel Edwards.
The bike shop already had been operating, and on its own instituted precautions to protect customers and employees before Guillory issued guidelines.
“We have a procedure in order and we only allow one to two people in the shop at a time, and we wear masks and ask our customers to stand six feet apart,” Arceneaux. “Our customers have been extremely patient and appreciate our efforts to remain safe and diligent.”
Lafayette has been cited by those across Louisiana arguing that Edwards should immediately begin opening the state, and the success of shops like Hub City Cycle show the experiences of business owners adapting to the problems posed by the pandemic.
Since the stay-home order started, Hub City Cycles has sold more bikes in a month than it would typically sell in three months. Arceneaux attributes this to the lifestyle quarantine has enforced, but adjustments made by the business also surely helped.
“It’s the silver lining in all this,” she said. “We were always in a hurry and now we have all this time to stop and enjoy more family time like riding bikes.”
For two weeks, businesses like clothing and furniture stores have operated under safe-shop policies adopted by Guillory. The businesses must limit traffic to 25% capacity, require employees to wear masks, ensure that workers are not sick or showing symptoms, and create ways to keep customers spaced six feet apart.
One Acadiana, the Lafayette chamber of commerce and the Acadiana region’s economic development advocate, has supported the initiative to expand business openings under these rules.
“Mayor Guillory and his administration have provided an exemplary model of local government response to COVID-19, with much of his leadership right in line with the business community’s ‘Safe at Work’ framework,” said One Acadiana President Troy Wayman.
The safe-shop plan, a statewide framework for increasing business openings, was crafted by the Baton Rouge Area Chamber and the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry. And now LABI is arguing Lafayette’s experience and the safe-shop concept should dictate immediate business openings across Louisiana.