Ashley Hunter
ECB Publishing, Inc.
After an extended period of store and restaurant COVID-19 closures, the majority of Florida, including Jefferson County, is finally beginning the slow progress of reopening.
For several days, Jefferson County was beginning to look akin to a ghost town, but local shopping boutiques, restaurants and – most recently – hair salons and barbershops, are finally beginning to reopen and welcome customers and patrons back through their doors.
A quick walk or drive around town during a weekday lunch hour shows Monticello's restaurants once again bustling – but with careful procedures in place to keep employees and patrons safe.
Under Gov. DeSantis' reopening guidelines, businesses have to keep a lower capacity and restaurants must space tables out to prevent diners from sitting too close. Some of the restaurants have opted to serve clients through take-out orders only, while others have reopened their dining rooms and provided special outdoor seating.
Doc's Diner, one of the restaurants in Monticello, says that after reopening from the closure, their patrons are slowly returning – albeit, dining habits have changed.
According to the Doc’s Diner staff, their breakfast orders are booming with customers flocking to the diner's doors in the mornings for orders of homestyle breakfasts; lunch, however, has yet to pick back up and return to the diner's pre-shutdown levels.
Local barber Justin Johnson's business was temporarily shut down due to the governor's statewide ruling, but he was able to reopen earlier this week after the state allowed salons and barbershops to reopen.
“We are open, and running like normal,” adds Johnson.
Victoria's Boutique, owned and operated by local businesswoman Victoria Randle, is another of Monticello's businesses that is thriving under the reopening.
“We closed when Gov. DeSantis closed all of the businesses, but then we opened back up on Saturday, the day he made the announcement,” says Randle, adding that since then, business has been booming. “Business has been picking back up – it's actually been really good for us! People have been coming in from out-of-town, as well as locally. Business has been very well.”
Agreeing with Randle was Sherri McKinley, owner of Soulshine Vintage.
At her downtown vintage and fashion shop, McKinley says business has had a good flow since her store reopened on Saturday, May 2, and even though she's only open for parts of the week, she hasn't seen a decline in shoppers.
She has seen changes to her shopper's habits though.
“We've been really busy,” says McKinley, although she adds that within that busyness has been a lot of customer-caution. “People are being more cautious with their masks, gloves and hand sanitizer.”
As stores, restaurants and salons begin to reopen, be sure to keep your local businesses in mind when you head out for a haircut, an updated wardrobe or dinner out on the town.