Coming Back...Carefully

Some Swarthmore restaurants hope to use part of Park Avenue for outdoor seating. Photo: Rachel Pastan

What will the Swarthmore business district look like this summer? 

That was the question local merchants discussed at a May 27 Zoom meeting with members of the non-profit organization Swarthmore Town Center (STC) and Mayor Marty Spiegel. With Delaware County slated to move from the red phase to the yellow phase of reopening on June 5, business owners are trying to figure out how to proceed. 

Merchants expressed impatience to get back to work, as well as concerns about safety.

STC offered some ideas to facilitate reopening. The group will ask Swarthmore Borough Council to designate some business district parking spaces for curbside pick up, STC Coordinator Anita Barrett said. They will also urge the borough to allow fitness, health, and wellness classes in public parks.

Also discussed: “parklets,” or portions of roadway blocked off for business use like outdoor restaurant seating. Even once Pennsylvania enters the green phase of reopening, seating in restaurants will be limited, making it difficult for restaurateurs to operate at a profit. Parklets could provide space for more diners, benefitting not only restaurateurs, but also customers who find al fresco dining more appealing because, according to the CDC, the coronavirus spreads less outdoors. 

Governor Tom Wolf will permit restaurants to serve at outdoor tables even in the yellow phase— in other words, starting June 5. Barrett hopes the council will green light parklets and allow them to be created quickly. STC wants the process to be “fast and affordable,” she said. Typically, business owners must submit plans for a parklet to their municipality, get the plans approved, and build a platform above street level. 

Jill Gaieski, co-owner of the Village Vine wine bar, which hopes to open in the next month or two, said her business would like to use parking spaces for outdoor seating. Teresa Richardson, of Occasionally Yours, would as well. Richardson does not expect high volume upon reopening, however. “I don’t anticipate a whole slew of customers coming up and creating a bottleneck,” she said.

STC board member Kim O’Halloran hopes to organize local college students home for the summer into a volunteer Swarthmore Service Corps, whose tasks could include assisting merchants. She asked the group to let her know what kind of help they might need.

Voice of Experience

Swarthmore Co-op General Manager Mike Litka shared his experience running a store during the COVID-19 pandemic. As an essential business, the Co-op has remained open, but has made adjustments including sanitizing stations, Plexiglas barriers between shoppers and cashiers, and volunteers shopping for others who prefer not to enter the store.

Litka offered advice on everything from personal protective equipment (“order it now”) to communicating new procedures to customers. “People stop seeing signs,” he said. He stressed continual experiment and improvement, keeping up with CDC guidelines and other resources, and taking care of staff. “There’s no playbook,” he said.

Litka also advised merchants to be prepared to explain and defend their actions. “There are a lot of people out there who think this is just a big hoax,” he said of the pandemic.

Sharing Worries

At the meeting, merchants also aired their fears. Aria co-owner Atmila Samadi said that her family applied for a small-business loan from the federal government under the CARES act but has not heard if they will receive help. “Bills are piling up,” she said.

“I don’t have a plan yet,” said waR3house3 owner (and Swarthmorean co-publisher) Rob Borgstrom. His wife works at Chester County Hospital, so he is deeply aware of the dangers of the coronavirus. “It’s going to have to be green for me to really be up and running,” he said.

H.O.M. owner Shannon Elliot said she opened her store for an individual customer appointment and was startled to see how many items one shopper touched in a single visit. The experience made her hesitant to fully reopen quickly. “People fall back on their regular shopping habits,” she said.

Susan Deininger of Kandy Kids Toys and Gifts is putting stuffed animals in plastic bags and has plans to get rid of her play area. “We’re changing the store radically,” she said. 

Litka sympathized with concerns about customers touching things. But he pointed out that germy surfaces are not how COVID-19 is most commonly spread. 

Barrett encouraged merchants to attend the June 1 meeting of Swarthmore Borough Council. She urged them to share their concerns and their requests for borough action during public comment. 

“STC will advocate for these things,” she said. “But we don’t have the skin in the game like you do.”