As you guys may have observed, Aggieville has been pretty much dead for the past week and a half. In short, it’s really easy to find a parking space 24/7. Andrea’s and my business, as with many of the businesses in Aggieville, relies heavily upon foot traffic for walk-in ceramics. We have seen literally zero walk-ins over the past five days (when we are open). Approximately half of our revenue stream is dependent upon walk-in traffic. The other half is reliant upon scheduled events and private events. For March, we had most of the calendar filled with private events. Several of which were Fraternities and Sororities who were planning on celebrating Mom’s weekends. One of these events would have had approximately 150 participants. All four of those events, as well as the other private events we had scheduled have been cancelled and deposit refunds have been made.
We have also had to cancel our public events. We generally run public events on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Our average public event attendance has been approximately 20 people per event since we purchased Straight Upp in November. Essentially, if we were to try and conduct business as usual, our revenue would be $0.
Like many other businesses, we have had to pivot. I know that word is overused, but it’s very literal. We are in the process of evolving from a very public, very social, very interactive people-to-people type of business, to a business that caters to everyone completely online. We have shifted our public paint and sips to take home kits that allow the customer to access a video tutorial for the painting they choose. We will also be setting up an online store for ceramics kits that people can order. We have also begun offering free delivery of these items after 5pm. (Because both of us work full time)… which leads me to the following…
We both work full time. Needless to say, but I’ll say it anyway, we are both thankful that we have jobs. We are also incredibly thankful that our jobs allow us to work from home. That being said, we leave home and work after hours in order to create the new services I’ve mentioned. Andrea goes down to Uncorked and puts together our take home kits. I go down to Uncorked and create new videos for paintings… (these are just two of the things we both do to keep this business running.) This has come at a time for us when we are literally five months into the purchase of a new business. It’s been grueling.
I don’t tell all of you this in order to solicit your feelings of sorrow or sadness or whatever. I just wanted to share our current reality. This reality also encompasses the other local businesses down in Aggieville… many of which cannot do what we do. I’m thankful that I am a graphic designer and web developer. If we had to pay someone to do the things we’re doing right now, we would be out of business, but thankfully, both Andrea and I have the skillsets to do what needs to be done to evolve our business.
This isn’t the case for many of the businesses in Aggieville. Bars can’t deliver. Food places have to rely on curbside pick up. A place like The Public House, which is reliant on social gathering, is now reliant on online orders and call in orders for curbside pick up or delivery. Kite’s has closed its doors for the foreseeable future. Acme local, Acme Gift, The Dusty Bookshelf, Rally House, and so many others… they’re shifting their paradigm.
Small businesses are facing a harsh reality right now. I anticipate there will be many that have to close their doors. If Andrea and I can weather the storm – due to the fact that we both have full time jobs and we can convert the majority of what we do to online – we will be able to pay the lease, pay the loan, and pay the utilities, pay our employees. Again, not trying to elicit sorrow or sadness. We chose this.
What I ask of you, and what all of the small businesses ask of you here in MHK… please support us as you’re able. Purchase online if available. Purchase gift certificates (and I see this as a blind purchase… meaning that the business you purchase it from may not be in business by the time this is over, but please purchase anyway because it might mean a meal on their own table). Let others know via word-of-mouth that these businesses are trying to stay open and work within the community.
Andrea and I are lucky. We have our full time positions. We know that if we can pay our lease, pay our utilities, and pay our loan, and pay our employees, we will survive this. Many of our local businesses are not as fortunate as we are. Please support them as you can.
And in the words of Forrest Gump… “That’s all I have to say about that.”