Grocers thrive, but many businesses have COVID-19 struggles
It was fairly quiet on Main Street in Plains Sunday as businesses work to cope with state-ordered closures in relation to the COVID-19 virus. (Scott Shindledecker/Valley Press)
The Wild Horse Club in Plains is serving food and beverage out of its back door because such establishments are closed by order of Montana Governor Steve Bullock in an effort to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. (Scott Shindledecker/Valley Press)
American Legion Post 129 in Paradise is closed and no one knows if it will reopen. (Scott Shindledecker/Valley Press)
The special signage on the entrance of the Little Bitterrot Thrift Store was typical of what you would see throughout Sanders County in the wake of the coronavirus lockdown. The store is closed and not accepting donations. (Scott Shindledecker/Mineral Independent)
As businesses all over the world cope with the effects of the deadly COVID-19 virus, they do too in Sanders County.
One of them, Paradise American Legion Post 129 manager Darin King isn’t sure when, or if, it will reopen.
Post 129 stopped operating when Governor Steve Bullock ordered the closure of such businesses in an effort to slow the spread of the deadly COVID-19 virus.
Post 129 has had more than its share of difficulties. It burned to the ground in 2013. It was rebuilt and opened in July 2018.
Today, the closure could mean the end of its operations.
“We had to lay off our employees and we told them to go file for unemployment,” King said. “If the closure goes beyond a few weeks, it’s gonna be tough to re-open.”
Not surprisingly, Post 129 did the bulk of its business from Thursday through the weekend. King said the money was enough to cover costs and keep things going.
A dart league generated interest on Thursdays. The weekly dinner was Friday and Saturday, bingo was the main attraction.
King said the ladies auxiliary was going to begin serving breakfast this past Sunday.
“I think the whole thing (COVID-19) is overblown, but I don’t know for sure,” King said. “I just hope there is enough money to re-open.”
Grocery stores in the county are doing well.
At Harvest Foods in Thompson Falls, a manager who didn’t want to be identified, said the store was busy and hectic.
She said they were limiting how many people could be in the store at one time and had taped areas on the floor six feet apart so shoppers knew how much distance they needed to be from each other.
The Wild Horse Bar in Plains has adjusted to the closure order by offering curb-side service.
Deanna Owens, who on May 1, will have operated the bar 18 years, said “It’s pure craziness” when asked about COVID-19.
“We (Sanders County) don’t have any COVID-19 cases and we don’t get many out-of-towners and especially not now,” Owens said. “I’m thankful for our customers who have been with us forever and our distributor, who said if it wasn’t for us, they wouldn’t have delivered up here.”
Owens said customers can pick up beer, liquor and food at the back door.
“We just put up signs advertising our pickup service and we’ve been selling a lot of 30-packs of beer,” Owens said.
Owens said several people have called to thank her for staying open and providing food and drink.
“We should be Ok, but I wonder about the businesses with new owners, will they make it?”
At the Lakeside Motel and Resort in Trout Creek, gift store manager Debbie Traver said they’ve had to lay off cooks, restaurant servers and half their staff in the gift shop.
“I just hope we’re allowed to stay open,” Traver said. “I hope President Trump gets it taken care and we can get back to normal.”
The motel is still open and takeout food and beverages are still available from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The gift store is also open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Symes Hotel in Hot Springs is closed and owner Leslee Smith is hosting some family members there, but she had to lay off 28 employees.
“The governor ordered all the hot springs establishments closed, and no one wants to stay here without being able to use the hot springs,” Smith said.
Smith has run Symes for 24 years and said she is fortunate to not have a mortgage.
“We had to cancel artists performances and Missoula Community Theatre performances, so that’s disappointing,” Smith said.
She said she is still paying for security in light of recent issues with a burglary that left the hotel without an ATM machine. The machine cost about $5,000 and there was $2,000 in it at the time.
“I only hope we can recover from this,” Smith said. “I think we can make it three or four weeks before we may have to close.”