PROVIDENCE – Gov. Gina M. Raimondo’s decision on Thursday to extend Rhode Island’s economic “pause” through Dec. 20 means some local businesses will have to continue to keep their doors shut, as others look to survive with slim profit potential because of restrictions through the rest of the year.
Some operators are pleased with knowing the doors can reopen Dec. 21, even with restrictions, while some have lingering questions about how they will be able to function.
According to the state’s Dec. 21 post-pause reopening plan, indoor-recreation facilities, indoor gyms and sports facilities, and indoor dining will be allowed to reopen with capacity restrictions.
Indoor dining will be allowed to have 50% capacity and one household per table, per the guidelines, while indoor-recreation facilities and gym facilities will be limited to one person per 150 square feet.
The state will announce industry-related restrictions beginning next week on its ReopeningRI.com website. What those industry-specific restrictions are is still unclear with some owners and whether or not it will be feasible to reopen during Christmas week.
Robert Toth, owner of Old Mountain Lanes in South Kingstown and operator of Walnut Hill Bowl in Woonsocket – two businesses that are currently closed during the pause, told Providence Business News Thursday that he and the other bowling-center operators in the state do not know where they stand as to how bowling in Rhode Island will look come Dec. 21.
Toth said he is in regular communication with R.I. Commerce Corp. representatives to better understand the situation as it pertains to bowling, but he declined to offer details as to what has been discussed with state commerce officials.
Susan Chace, general manager of East Providence-based roller-skating center United Skates of America, which is closed during the pause, told Providence Business News Thursday that she is OK with the guidelines if it means her business can be open during Christmas vacation. She said the capacity restrictions will decrease her customer count inside United Skates by approximately 100, but she can “work around it.”
“I’m just going to open for a longer period of time,” she said. “Going into Christmas vacation week, I was normally open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Now, I’ll probably be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and then 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., and count the people coming in and coming out.”
Chace said United Skates has been hit hard by the pandemic as a whole, including during the pause. She said she does not have a birthday party booked for all of December and beyond.
Toth said he received financial assistance from the state’s Restore RI grants and loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program. He said he also applied “very early” for a piece of the $50 million in financial assistance offered to businesses impacted by the pause.
Toth said he expects to get assistance for his centers but is unsure of how much he will receive.
Chace said she is unsure how much financial assistance United Skates plans to receive from the state, saying the owners handle the business’s finances.
The hospitality industry has been pummeled by the pandemic’s countless restrictions, including Raimondo’s latest public health measure to cap dining room capacities at 25% and limiting tables to people within the same household.
“This two-week ‘pause’ has been just one more difficult period for the restaurant industry on the heels of an incredibly difficult year. It has made an already financially devastating situation worse for business owners and staff, and erased any potential profit from what would typically be a very busy holiday season,” said Dale Venturini, CEO and president of the Rhode Island Hospitality Association, in a statement sent to the Providence Business News shortly after Raimondo’s press conference.
Venturini said restaurants remain the most heavily regulated sector during the pandemic, despite what she called a “lack of any meaningful data” showing that dining in restaurants contributed to Rhode Island’s high positivity rate.
Venturini said the association will continue to advocate to Raimondo for the reinstatement of bar seating in restaurants and to increase the capacity allowed for indoor dining.
Some owners of fitness centers echoed Venturini’s sentiments that there was “zero data-driven evidence” of significant spread of COVID-19 at fitness facilities.
Stephen Lukin is a local Planet Fitness Inc. franchisee with club locations in Woonsocket, Cumberland, Coventry and Warwick. He told a PBN reporter Thursday that each of his locations has enhanced cleanliness and sanitization policies and procedures, which include daily temperature checks for staff members, touchless check-in and proper social distancing rules.
“Utilization is down, membership is down. We’ve had to make some really difficult decisions already during this pause,” said Lukin. He said that he has continued to pay his team members throughout the two-week pause, and plans to do so for the extended week.
According to financial reports obtained by PBN, Planet Fitness’ total revenue decreased across all of its locations by nearly 37% in the third quarter.
When asked if he will be able to fully pay his employees if the pause continues past Dec. 21, Lukin said, “I really don’t know. It would be tough.”
Lukin said he does not see any spread of COVID-19 happening inside fitness centers, and regularly receives feedback from his members that they feel safe in his clubs.
But the R.I. Department of Health shot back, saying there is evidence of spread at fitness centers.
“The turbulent airflow from exercising creates an environment in which droplets spread easily. We know that people breathe harder when they work out, which is how the virus spreads, especially in confined, indoor places with ventilation that is less than ideal,” said health department spokesman Joseph Wendelken.
Wendelken said that many attendees of fitness centers are interacting with people they do not live with, which is causing further spread.
When asked for data to prove that fitness centers do spread COVID-19, Wendelken referenced a study that was published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that identified 112 cases of COVID-19 and hundreds of exposed people, all associated with 12 fitness centers in South Korea. He said there have been other, highly publicized gym-associated outbreaks in Illinois, California and Canada, among other locations.
“This is why many other places throughout the country have either limited or ceased gym operations temporarily,” he said.
Wendelken did not immediately respond to a request for contact-tracing data that proved spread occurred because of fitness centers in Rhode Island.
Toth, who also operates two restaurants at Old Mountain Lanes, said reopening Dec. 21 with Christmas being four days later is a “problem for the restaurants.”
He said Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are traditionally “slow nights” at restaurants. Now, with Christmas Eve and Christmas being at the end of that week, plus the possibility of the day after Christmas – Saturday – being slow, he questions if it is even feasible to reopen given the logistics.
“Do you bring your [food] inventory up for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, all for it to be closed Christmas Eve and Christmas [on Thursday and Friday]?” Toth said. “That’s a dilemma for a restaurant owner.”
Alexa Gagosz is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Gagosz@PBN.com. You may also follow her on Twitter at @AlexaGagosz.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
