Many Merced small businesses in survival mode, seven weeks into coronavirus pandemic
A blue face mask and gloves have become part of Oscar Torres’ daily work attire these days.
Torres, co-owner of J&R Tacos in Merced’s downtown, was busy on a Friday evening taking phone orders, working the cash register and packing to-go orders. He had help from two other employees during Friday’s dinner rush.
Torres, whose business survived the Great Recession, had to temporarily lay off roughly half of his 12 employees in the past month. The coronavirus pandemic, which entered its seventh week, has forced many businesses to shut down — some permanently, while others are taking an indefinite hiatus.
Meanwhile, others like J&R Tacos continue to find alternative ways to stay open, though it’s anything but easy. Without being able to set up shop at UC Merced or cater events, Torres says his restaurant is probably making about 70 percent compared to what it made last year at this time.
“The good part of this is seeing the support of the community,” Torres said. “I’ve seen friends and customers try to support us in many ways. They support us on social media and by telling their friends. They’re ordering constantly. I see some people twice a week. It’s rough times so we really appreciate the support.”
Despite the setbacks, for now Torres’ business is treading water. Torres says he recently received a Payment Protection Program loan through the government. Torres said he was originally denied a PPP loan, but received news on April 22 that he was approved for a small business loan.
“The money will help with expenses, payroll and rent,” Torres said. “People can still have hope. We’re trying our best to keep providing our services the best that we can.”
It’s taking some adjustments.
Torres says the restaurant has adjusted their daily hours to noon to 8 p.m. They are taking to-go orders over the phone and online. They are using services like Door Dash and Grubhub. Torres has also used social media a lot more to get the word out to customers about specials and to advertise that they’re still open.
J&R Tacos also recently started a Sunday breakfast menu that did well in the first week it was offered so Torres has decided to continue it.
Other businesses adjusting
After watching his business grow over the past four years, Little Oven Pizza co-owner Dan Verechia was expecting a very busy spring with the help of UC Merced events and graduations.
Instead, like J&R Tacos, Verechia has seen his business drop about 25 % from this time last year. “A good part of our business is dependent on foot traffic,” Verechia said. “People picking up a couple of slices of pizza before going to the movies or Playhouse Merced.”
To help the business through the pandemic, Little Oven Pizza has started delivering pizzas to go with take-out orders.
“It’s disrupted our business model,” Verechia said. “We primarily sold pizzas by the slice. We’ve had to discontinue doing it and we’ve had to close our dining room. We’ve had to pivot to selling whole pizza for carry out and we’ve added delivery.”
Adding delivery service has helped keep Verechia from laying off any of his staff with some of his employees transitioning to delivery drivers.
“Our employees have been super flexible through all of this,” said Verechia, who has 11 employees. “They’ve really stepped up and have been ready for whatever. When this started, I gave them the option — if they didn’t feel comfortable working through this — they can step away and come back when it’s over. I had one employee take me up on that offer.”
Verechia also has been blown away by the support of his customers. “Absolutely, our customers have been fantastic,” he said. “They appreciate us being open. They understand the sacrifices we’re making and they understand the tough times everyone is going through.”
Pandemic has changed business practices
McNamara Sports, a sporting good store located on W. 18th Street, saw its business dip by about 90 percent for the first three weeks after California Governor Gavin Newsom issued the “Shelter in Place” order.
“Everything came to a screeching halt,” said owner Dan McNamara. “We had close to no income for three weeks.”
Like many small businesses in Merced, McNamara was unable to secure a PPP loan. When high school, youth and travel sports were shut down, McNamara Sports lost most of their business that comes from uniforms, T-shirts and other team gear.
“That’s a huge part of what we do,” McNamara said. “A lot of our retail is fed by team sports.”
McNamara Sports, which opened in Merced in 1923, will turn 100 in 2023. Dan is the third generation owner of the store and four generations of McNamaras have worked at the store.
Despite never really doing much business online before the pandemic, McNamara Sports has seen business pick up recently through their website McNamarasports.com.
People can shop through two web stores on the site. One is the McNamara Support Local Store link and the other is McNamara’s Adidas Store. People can purchase t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, gift certificates and other items.
“We were able to sell 120 items in a week from the support store and the Adidas store helps me get rid of stuff off of my racks,” McNamara said. “The two web stores were well received. I feel thankful and blessed for anything we’ve received. It’s overwhelming.”
Community Support
One small business that’s completely ceased operation, at least for the time being, is Second Time Around — a used bookstore just a block down from J&R Tacos and Little Pizza Oven on Main Street.
The bookstore was unable to secure a PPP loan. To try to help the store, employee Alissa Haynes started a GoFundMe account.
In little over a week, the store has received over $6,4000 in donations. The link has been shared 2,200 times and the store has received 152 donations.
Haynes says she set the goal at $10,000 because it would almost cover two months of operating costs for the store.
Haynes said the community’s response brought her to tears. “In a beautiful way,” she said. “It was nice to know that people loved us in that way. It’s a scary time for all businesses. I know of some businesses that had just opened up when all this happened.”
Until hearing that J&R Tacos had received a federal loan, Haynes said she hadn’t heard from any local businesses that were able to secure PPP loans.
Helping the community
Like Second Time Around Books, Coffee Bandits owner Melissa Eisner also was denied when she applied for a small business PPP loan.
Her shop, which is also located on Main Street, closed down March 27, even though she had the choice to remain open. “As an owner, I didn’t want to be responsible of putting my employees at risk of basically dying for selling coffee,” Eisner said. “We decided to close down.”
Eisner has spent her time working on other projects to help the community in the meantime.
Her store has donated meals to the Merced Rescue Mission. They’ve made sandwiches. They also used 100 tortillas donated by J&R Tacos to make other meals to donate.
Eisner has also worked with a group called Masks for Docs. The group is using her shop to become a storage center for personal protective equipment that can be distributed to local medical facilities.
“We’re doing as much as we can do,” Eisner said. “That’s what we’ve always been about.”
Eisners says Coffee Bandits is still selling coffee beans, teas and shirts online.
“I’m totally blown away by the support from the community,” Eisner said. “I’ve had so many e-mails and text messages from people checking in with me. It feels good.”
This story was originally published April 30, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Many Merced small businesses in survival mode, seven weeks into coronavirus pandemic."
