“Shipping delays have been as great as 10 weeks. Since the onset of the pandemic, certain aspects of running a small business that were already difficult have become exaggerated. People were reluctant, and as a small business owner, you typically don’t want to give people a reason not to come in,” Haas said. “Initially, the biggest challenge was getting customers to wear their masks before the statewide mask mandate went into place. Nicole Haas has been the store’s owner since 2018, and she noted the difficulty of keeping her employees and customers safe. The shop offers customers a large selection, selling everything from vintage concert posters and old-fashioned candy to t-shirts and coffee. General Store 45 is located in the heart of Historic Downtown Littleton, tucked between a barbershop and butcher on an Americana-esque main street. “I think people want to have beer more accessible to them to grab on their way home from work if they do not have time to sit down,” Lay said. Lay discussed how laws regarding packaging and to-go models for beer have become more relaxed. However, locally-owned breweries did see some positive changes.
“I am looking forward to being back in a space with our regular customers-just feeling like we are a community again and gathering with people we have known for a long time and supported us over the last year,” Lay said. But due to the six-foot-apart requirement, they are still only able to fit 25 customers inside. At 100% occupancy, their space can hold 45 customers. Similar to Devour the 303, Lady Justice Brewing has run into social distancing complications. We don’t know what’s normal, and that can be really frustrating,” Lay said. It’s hard to know how much money is going to come in the door each week. Lady Justice Brewing signed the lease to their brick-and-mortar location just three days before the March lockdown. They donate 100% of the profits from brewery memberships to nonprofits that support women and girls. Owners Betsy Lay, Kate Power and Jen Cuesta founded the brewery in 2014. Lady Justice Brewing, a woman-owned brewery in the Aurora Cultural Arts District, is looking forward to reconnecting with its customers as well. “It has been uplifting to be around people you have built relationships with over the last two years again,” Armatas said. Simply being able to have customers walk through their doors again seems to provide a sense of relief for Armatas and his establishment. It will take a while for the restaurants to recover at that rate,” Armatas said. I do not think we will see that for a long time. “Prior to COVID-19, you could walk into a restaurant and it would be jam-packed and wall-to-wall with people. Even with the removal of capacity regulations, the restaurant has kept occupation levels at 60% to maintain distance between groups. They supported us so heavily before we closed, and they came out and welcomed us back with open arms,” Armatas said.īut even with this support, Devour has struggled with limitations based on social distancing protocols. Community support, however, seemed to be just as large of a factor in keeping Devour afloat. The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) provides loans to small businesses to help keep their employees on payroll. Then we got the second round of PPP, the weather started to get a little nicer and we got a lot of requests to come back from the neighborhood, so we decided to make another run of it,” Armatas said. “I was not sure if I was going to reopen or not. The restaurant reopened in June of 2020 but shut down again in the winter following the zero-capacity guidelines. Armatas explained how it can be difficult for restaurants with a large footprint to effectively pivot to only doing takeout. “We hope consumer confidence comes back and regulations ease a little bit, so we can start to recover,” said Sam Armatas, the owner of the restaurant.ĭevour had to close down completely last year when COVID-19 hit Colorado.
The Sweet Spot | Photo by Ambriel Speagle (DU Clarion)
Next to it sits its dessert cafe, The Sweet Spot, which serves pies, ice cream and cocktails. Both restaurants and shops have felt the impact of COVID-19, and their owners have learned to adapt to the ever-changing conditions of the pandemic.ĭevour the 303 is an American-style restaurant located on the corner of Evans and Downing. After over a year of restrictions and closures, small businesses in the Denver metro area are eager to welcome customers back.
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