Local business people keep going as others are forced to close
CHARLES H. FEATHERSTONE | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 10 months AGO
Charles H. Featherstone/Columbia Basin Herald Tykes 2 Kids owner Acashia Crowell (center) with family friend Julie Green (left) and daughter Samantha in Crowell's boutique on Third Avenue in Moses Lake. Crowell has vowed to keep Tykes 2 Kids open.
MOSES LAKE — If there was one thing that united retailers the length of downtown Moses Lake Monday afternoon, it was the determination to keep the doors open.
“Our plan is to stay open, but I don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow,” said Acashia Crowell, the owner of Tykes 2 Kids, a resale boutique specializing in children’s clothing.
A sign on the front door of Tykes 2 Kids declared the store “A coronavirus free zone! The coronavirus is NOT welcome here!” — sentiments echoed on the doors of several other retail establishments downtown.
Crowell said that business has been “terrible” recently, but she’s determined to keep going.
“This is how I feed my kids, so we gotta stay open,” she said.
On Monday, Gov. Jay Inslee ordered the partial closure of all restaurants across the state, leaving them open only for take-out and delivery orders. Salons, barbershops and tattoo shops were also closed for two weeks.
“If they say to close, then I’ll close,” said Sue Torrence, the owner of Sue’s Boutique. “But other than that, I plan on being here.”
Grocery stores, pharmacies and other retailers were still allowed to open their doors to the public Monday, though with social distancing restrictions. Business may be down, but many owners are determined to stay open as long as they can.
“We are open until further notice and as long as we stay well enough so there are enough people to run the store,” said Alicia West, the manager of Settler’s Country Market in downtown Moses Lake.
West said Settler’s has started delivering grocery orders. Customers can place orders by calling the market at 509-766-9981 or emailing their orders to settlerscountrymarket@hotmail.com.
Demand is up, but West said some of the company’s suppliers have been affected. Like most retailers, West said Settler’s is having difficulties getting Vitamin C, immune supplements and — of course — hand sanitizer.
Danny Duong, owner and operator of the Vietnamese cafe Pho Saigon, was still open Monday afternoon packing take-out orders and offering free meals to kids as a way to show some support as the school district shuts down classes for six weeks.
Duong said he would stay open as long as he could, however, he was worried about the possibility of a long shutdown.
“We try to keep moving,” Duong said.
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.
MORE FRONT-PAGE-SLIDER STORIES
ARTICLES BY CHARLES H. FEATHERSTONE
Potato prices up, sales down for first quarter 2023
DENVER — The value of grocery store potato sales rose 16% during the first three months of 2023 as the total volume of sales fell by 4.4%, according to a press release from PotatoesUSA, the national marketing board representing U.S. potato growers. The dollar value of all categories of U.S. potato products for the first quarter of 2023 was $4.2 billion, up from $3.6 billion for the first three months of 2022. However, the total volume of potato sales fell to 1.77 billion pounds in the first quarter of 2023 compared with 1.85 billion pounds during the same period of 2022, the press release noted. However, total grocery store potato sales for the first quarter of 2023 are still above the 1.74 billion pounds sold during the first three months of 2019 – a year before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the press release said.
WSU Lind Dryland Research Station welcomes new director
LIND — Washington State University soil scientist and wheat breeder Mike Pumphrey was a bit dejected as he stood in front of some thin test squares of stunted, somewhat scraggly spring wheat at the university’s Lind Dryland Research Station. “As you can see, the spring wheat is having a pretty tough go of it this year,” he said. “It’s a little discouraging to stand in front of plots that are going to yield maybe about seven bushels per acre. Or something like that.” Barely two inches of rain have fallen at the station since the beginning of March, according to station records. Pumphrey, speaking to a crowd of wheat farmers, researchers, seed company representatives and students during the Lind Dryland Research Station’s annual field day on Thursday, June 15, said years like 2023 are a reminder that dryland farming is a gamble.
Wilson Creek hosts bluegrass gathering
WILSON CREEK — Bluegrass in the Park is set to start today at Wilson Creek City Park. The inaugural event is set to bring music and visitors to one of Grant County’s smallest towns. “I've been listening to bluegrass my whole life,” said the event’s organizer Shirley Billings, whose family band plays on their porch every year for the crowd at the Little Big Show. “My whole family plays bluegrass. And I just wanted to kind of get something for the community going. So I just invited all the people that I know and they’ll come and camp and jam.” ...