MOSES LAKE — Heidi Gales, like many small-business owners in the Columbia Basin, in recent weeks tried to think of ways to continue to help the community after she and her daughter, Emily, made the decision to close their doors at the Sandbox Bookstore in Moses Lake.

“Non-essential” businesses and venues have been closing across the country in the last month in efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19. A tight space in the bookstore made practicing social distancing difficult, Gales said.

With more people becoming sick, Gales said she didn’t want to facilitate anything being spread, especially with a high number of elderly customers frequenting the store.

“This is huge. Our sales were down about 42 percent,” Gales said. “So we’re trying to think of ideas that will keep people buying books so we can keep our doors open long-term. This is a really big thing for us.”

Gales said they tried to think of ways they could expand customer options to keep business steady, while helping out the community as well. Since closing the doors, they have focused on online orders and deliveries. Gales said they’ve seen the book deliveries growing in popularity each day.

“We have a lot of families with kids, a lot of older people,” Gales said.

So, with the stay-at-home order put into effect this week, they’ll focus on shipping. And, Gales said, they’ll put in whatever hours it takes, do whatever they need to keep the business going steadily.

“We want to keep it in the forefront of people’s minds; we don’t want people to forget about us,” Gales said. “So we’re going to make a big push for that.”

Gales and her daughter opened the Sandbox Bookstore last May as co-owners after tossing the idea around of wanting a bookstore in town.

“We wanted a place for people to come and buy books at a great deal, especially kids,” Gales said. “We especially wanted to encourage kids to read.”

Emily Gales runs the store primarily day to day, and Heidi Gales said it has been great seeing her daughter grow alongside their business.

“Everyone knows her name, and people will stop by and talk to her,” she said. “It’s really cool seeing her grow a lot as a business owner.”

Gales said there’s a mutual respect between the two, and it “just seems to work pretty well.”

When she’s not working at the bookstore, one might find Heidi Gales at her main profession, teaching seventh- and eighth-grade English at New Life Christian School in Ephrata.

Gales said she has been able to help a lot of parents blindsided by the closures of schools by offering workbooks, flash cards, and other items to assist their children at home.

Gales said she knows the coming weeks will be tough, on a lot of small businesses. While bills are paid through March, Gales said April is another story. She said she tries not to think about the negatives too much and just focuses on how they can continue to support the community.