‘Got to survive this’: Downtown Beaufort business adapts without the usual spring rush
The spring weather is pristine and the sidewalks along newly paved Bay Street in downtown Beaufort would typically be awash in tourists swinging shopping bags.
But nothing has been typical about these recent weeks. And downtown merchants are having to adapt as coronavirus has closed doors to foot traffic and dozens of parking spots go empty during March and April, months that are the busiest of the year for many.
“Easter week is our biggest week of the spring, and we don’t have it,” said Nan Sutton, owner of Lulu Burgess gift shop on Bay Street and a member of City Council.
Bay Street business owners instead are telling customers about their option to pick up items at the curb or have them shipped or delivered.
Sutton said she tried to have a website in past years with little success but will be forced to start one now to help her store survive. She’s used the business’ Facebook page to post video of store inventory and invite people to pick what they like and wears a mask.
Around the corner at NeverMore Books, an independent bookseller on Craven Street, owners Lorrie and David Anderson have also used social media to remind customers they can still buy page-turners even if they can’t browse the shelves.
The bookstore has been closed since mid-March, before Gov. Henry McMaster’s recent order closing nonessential business. Before that the shop was having a banner year, Lorrie Anderson said.
She and her husband stop in the store each day to fill orders and produce videos such as a recent one where David read bedtime stories aloud.
“It’s slow going, but every day it’s something,” Lorrie said. “So it’s encouraging that people are still wanting books and want to read. It’s nice to have a distraction in these times.”
The store has also began stocking puzzles with the work of artist Edward Gorey that have sold well, she said.
Shop owners have used their display windows to tell the few passing pedestrians how they can still buy from the business or to offer encouragement.
“This too shall pass,” a message on the glass at Down by the Bay Children’s Boutique reads.
Mary Thibault, who with husband, Eric, owns Thibault Gallery on Bay Street, produced coffee mugs with the message “Beaufort Strong” and an image Mary painted of a palmetto tree and crescent. It’s work she first painted on plywood when the store boarded up for Hurricane Matthew and has been brought back out for subsequent hurricanes, tropical storms and now, a pandemic.
The gallery owners started a website a year ago to capture customers who leave town and later decide they want to buy a piece of art. The online store has been handy in recent weeks.
Eric Thibault is president of the Downtown Beaufort Merchants Association. He said the group has kept in touch and offered ideas on how to weather COVID-19 via a Facebook group started by Melinda Henrickson, owner of women’s clothing store Good Aura.
“We’re all in this together,” Thibault said. “If I’ve got a loaf of bread and my neighbor is starving, I’m going to give him part of it. We’ve all got to survive this.”
