State: Stores were allowed to offer curbside pickup under shutdown

For many Long Island clothing boutiques, toy stores and home goods retailers, Phase One of reopening doesn't look that different from the shutdown. 

Phase One includes allowing such retailers — deemed nonessential and ordered to close their stores in mid-March — to offer curbside pickup and in-store pickup.  But many have been offering curbside pickup for weeks. 

Doing so was allowed under Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's stay-at-home order — as long as there was only one employee in the store fulfilling orders and the orders were made by phone or online, according to Empire State Development, the state agency determining which businesses are essential and which ones are not.

Beginning Wednesday, nonessential retailers are now permitted to have multiple employees in the store to fulfill orders for curbside pickup, an ESD official said Wednesday.

But some shop owners said they thought they were not allowed to offer curbside pickup until the region officially reached Phase One on Wednesday. 

Others said bringing on extra staff is not feasible at a time when their revenue has been drastically reduced, so for now, even with the relaxed guideline, they will manage their shops on their own or with limited help. 

In-store pickup is also now allowed, as long as social distancing is observed and store occupancy does not exceed 50% of capacity, the ESD official said.

Michael Timko, 57, owner of Seaford toy store Fun Stuff Toys, said he's been playing by the rules, working mostly solo and wearing a mask and gloves while at the shop. 

Timko quickly pivoted to online sales and curbside pickup when he was forced to shut the shop's doors two months ago. 

"Selling online and providing curbside pickup for parents was really the only way to keep the business going," he said. "And for us, we felt like we were providing an essential service to so many parents, who suddenly found themselves having to become their children's teachers and entertainers." 

Still, Fun Stuff's closure caused a 50% decline in sales, he said. 

For Danielle De Melfi, 38, who along with husband Dan, 36, opened rustic home décor shop Simple Little Detail in Brookhaven a few months before the shutdown, the biggest change in Phase One will be reopening for in-store pickup this weekend.

"You can come in, only a couple people at a time for pickup, and that's it," she said. "It's hard to tell what is allowed and not allowed right now."   

When the shutdown occurred, business partners Jacqueline Garf, 30, and Emily Recher, 28, didn't have a website set up for La Luna Boutique, the women's clothing shop they opened about a year ago in Massapequa. 

"We had to scramble to create one," Recher said. "For the two weeks it took us to do that, we weren't getting any sales." 

Garf and Recher said they thought state rules did not allow them to offer curbside pickup until Wednesday; they hope adding the service will lead to a boost in sales. The store is also offering contactless delivery.

Harold Schwab, owner of sporting goods store Schwab's 2nd Wind in East Setauket, said his sales dropped to 5% during the shutdown. 

“We’re in a very big hole right now because even though the store is closed, we have rent bills, utility bills," he said.

In Phase One, Schwab said he'll try having customers try on running shoes on benches out on the sidewalk and is toying with the idea of setting up a merchandise trailer in the parking lot.

"It's still going to be limited, but far, far better than what we've had for the past two months," he said. 

The vast majority of businesses "have been terrific about being in compliance" with state guidelines during the shutdown, Suffolk Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart said Wednesday. 

Of 1,320 calls received by the department complaining about a business not complying with the order, only 110 — or 8.3% — were found to be out of compliance when officers investigated, she said, and only one business received a summons.