Local chamber after MA COVID-19 rollback: ‘We will see more stores closing’

BOSTON — A post-Thanksgiving COVID-19 surge has forced Gov. Charlie Baker to roll Massachusetts back the reopening process to Phase 3, Step 1. That means some businesses will be closed including indoor performance venues, roller skating rinks, laser tag, and escape rooms. All buildings including gyms, stores, offices, and places of worship will be limited to just 40% capacity.

Michael & Carol Noymer, owners of Leather World, say going back in the state’s reopening plan definitely throws a wrench in their business plans.

If I told you the Noymers have been married 33 years, it wouldn’t surprise you especially after you see how often they finish each other sentences.

“It’s been a huge test,” Carol said. “Since March it’s been a challenge.”

Their challenge now is surviving this holiday season.

“A lot of people travel for the holidays and they’re not. They are also thinking about travel so they’re not buying gifts like travel items,” Michael said. “We are doubly hit because we are traveling we are a luggage store.”

And the hits keep on coming for the life and business partners.

“We want to continue what we’re doing so we come every day and we put a smile on our face and we’re ready,” said Carol. “But…”

The number of people allowed at public gatherings will drop to 25 for indoor events and 50 for outdoor events, and there are new restrictions on restaurants across the state.

At shopping hubs like Newton Centre, this holiday season would normally be bustling with shoppers, but with this rollback, businesses - small businesses especially - expect a lot less people this year, meaning they likely will not be able to recoup much of their 2020 losses.

“It’s not so much this phase, just the comments that everybody makes that you shouldn’t shop in any retail stores,” the Noymers said. “We will do curbside, we will do anything the customers want. We will deliver to the house anything like that. But when they see that they are rolling back here they will think twice.”

“What the governor did today is just another step in this long hard winter for our businesses,” said Newton-Needham Regional Chamber President Greg Reibman. “This is a devastating time for our merchants getting through the next few weeks of the holidays is always so important. We will see more stores closing.”

And that is not the finish the Noymers are hoping for.

“Our business is probably down less than half,” Carol said. “We have been here for 52 years. We opened in 1969, I hope to be here for a few more. We are all struggling and we are trying to survive so we don’t sink.”

“It’s easy to order from large retailers, but if you can find a way to buy it locally you really are helping to preserve your entire downtown area,” said Reibman.

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