PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island’s two-week “pause” will go into effect in a week, and schools and businesses will be asked to operate at limited capacity or ordered to close completely in an effort to stem the severe rise in COVID-19 cases across the state.
Much like in the spring, indoor-recreation facilities, such as roller-skating rinks, bowling centers and indoor go-kart tracks, are among the businesses ordered to close Nov. 30, per Gov. Gina M. Raimondo’s order, until at least Dec. 13.
Owners and managers of these facilities have experienced this before.
In March, when the pandemic first gripped Rhode Island, these facilities were the first ordered closed and among the last allowed to reopen June 30 as part of the state’s Phase 3 reopening plan. Providence Business News spotlighted these businesses in a July 3 story in which owners and managers argued that they should have been allowed to reopen sooner, given their facilities were able to adhere to all required safety measures to stem coronavirus spread, including social distancing, and also said they took significant financial losses due to the extended closures.
Now, these same owners and managers, while expecting a shutdown of their operations would happen, are now worried that the upcoming closures are going to hurt them again and hope suitable financial assistance can be provided by state for at least the next two weeks – with some believing the pause will be longer than that.
They’re also frustrated because they are still being forced to close despite abiding by the new state-required safety measures, including, they said, passing all inspections conducted by the state in the four months since they were deemed OK to reopen.
“We’ve gone great lengths to abide the protocols and then some. I don’t like it,” said Robert Toth, owner of Old Mountain Lanes Inc. in South Kingstown and operator of Walnut Hill Bowl in Woonsocket. “[This new closure] makes it more frustrating because we were trying to do everything and there’s no record that there’s a problem emanating from these locations.”
Slow recovery
Business has not fully recovered at these facilities since they reopened June 30. Toth said bowling league participation – the centers’ main consistent business – is down approximately 30% across Rhode Island, including at Old Mountain and Walnut Hill. Toth also spoke directly with R.I. Commerce Corp. officials in late May about reopening bowling centers when they were closed at the time and he said he plans to reach out to them again about the upcoming closures.
Toth also said the reduced capacity for restaurants – 33% – does not work for his two restaurants that are part of Old Mountain and “it doesn’t make sense” to keep them open, creating additional revenue loss for him.
Susan Chace, general manager of East Providence-based United Skates of America, said business at the rink has been down by more than half than normal and business has gotten even worse since the pandemic’s “second wave” began sweeping across Rhode Island.
“Since the numbers [for COVID-19 cases] has gone up, we’re down terribly,” Chace said.
Pieter Martens, CEO of Lincoln-based R1 Indoor Karting LLC, said his go-kart track cannot have as many people inside, resulting in less races during the weekends – the business’ peak operation period. Plus, Martens said he had to “drastically” lower his marketing budget, cutting back on such spending for fear of not seeing a return on it.
“If I do now a big event campaign, normally what we do in December, I would be at risk to spend up to $20,000 in marketing in this period and cannot make it [back],” Martens said. Additionally, R1 lost out on significant revenue without the normal end-of-year holiday parties that the track typically hosts, Martens said.
“You’re working the whole year to pay the bills and then you have December, which is the holiday season in which we make most of our profits,” he said. “But now, we’re going to miss our holiday season already. That’s already goodbye to the holiday profits. Then, God knows. Who will tell me if I’ll be open in February, March, April [for our busy walk-in season]? ”
Martens also said he is happy that all indoor-recreation centers, including Bally’s Corp.’s two Rhode Island-based casinos in Lincoln and Tiverton, are being closed equally. R1, on June 12, reopened for business ahead of the June 29 Phase 3 opening date, citing the casinos’ June 8 reopening as a main reason why the go-kart track reopened. The casinos’ early reopening also frustrated other indoor-recreation facility operators at the time.
R.I. Commerce said to PBN for the July 3 story that casinos’ “unique ability” to implement safety measures under close supervision with invitation-only patrons allowed the casinos to operate in a “very limited manner.” However, R.I. Commerce did not indicate what was different about the casinos’ capability to implement safety measures compared with other indoor-recreation facilities in the state.
Inconsistent view?
The owners and managers of indoor facilities also said that they were frustrated that they spent money out of pocket to meet safety requirements, and are unsure what justifies the state in closing their facilities down.
“I don’t think the science matches her decision,” Toth said, noting he spent between $5,000 and $6,000 on plexiglass alone at his two bowling centers.
Toth also said he worked out an agreement at the start of the school year with South Kingstown High School to have students there use Old Mountain as a place for gym class, with mask-wearing at all times, to help the school eliminate spacing issues. Toth said he increased his center’s mask-wearing policy at both Old Mountain and Walnut Hill, where masks are required to be on at all times unless a patron is eating, drinking or in the physical act of bowling.
“I feel we were able to respond to the conditions as they have changed, but I don’t think we’re getting the backing of the government,” Toth said. “I don’t think the state has confidence in the business community to manage the situation.”
Chace also argued that holding gatherings in large spaces, such as birthday parties, are safer than in individual households. Raimondo recently cited households as a cause of the increased virus spread. Additionally, Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker said in September, according to New England Cable News, that he prefers people gather in large venues, such as roller-skating rinks, where there are rules in place for safety in lieu of other households where rules are not in place.
“What has been particularly interesting about the summer is very, very few examples of significant spread have occurred in organized, structured, rule-based settings,” Baker said according to NECN. “Most of our new cases [in the commonwealth], most of our clusters, have involved unstructured, non-rule-based gatherings – parties that have taken place between and among people where there aren’t any rules.”
“[Raimondo is] saying ‘don’t have birthday parties,’ and I agree, don’t have a house birthday party. If you have a party here [at United Skates], we’re so strict because we’re keeping the masks on,” Chace said. “We’re making sure we’re staying six feet apart and we’re spreading them out; we’re doing everything to keep everybody safe.
“And now, you’re closing us?”
Connecticut rolled back its reopening plan to a modified Phase 2 earlier this month but indoor-recreation facilities were not ordered closed by the state.
According to the R.I. Department of Business Regulation’s COVID-19 Business Transparency Portal, indoor-recreation businesses out of compliance are hard to find. Out of the 153 total businesses listed on the site that received either a compliance order or were forced closed between June 23 and Nov. 20, only one fitness facility – A&D Fitness in Johnston – was ordered to close Nov. 12 for noncompliance.
Both Toth and Chace said their respective operations have been inspected at least three times and found to be in compliance each time.
Financial help?
Raimondo is expected this week to announce that businesses impacted by the pause will be eligible for “financial stimulus support,” according to R.I. Commerce spokesperson Matt Sheaff in an email to PBN Nov. 20, but offered no additional information.
“More details to come [this] week,” Sheaff said.
Chase, Martens and Toth all said they will be seeking such financial help if and when the assistance is made available.
“I hope the measures are good because we need them,” Martens said. “[Right now] it’s all a lot of what-ifs because I don’t know. What is she going to say? If she closes the door and there’s no measures to support the operation, we would have to put everybody on the street. How can we do that?”
Chace also said she hopes the financial stimulus plan allows companies with more than 50 employees to apply and have it not solely focus on small businesses.
“We’re hurting too,” Chase said. “You’re wiping out more income for us and more revenue for us.”
But, they also hope the shutdown measures work, as they fear the pause will last more than two weeks. Toth believes it’s going to last close to a month, at least, and hopes the state has a financial plan in place for businesses if the pause is extended.
“We’re going to need it,” Toth said.
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.
