VERONA - The Factory Antique Mall went from having the best year on record in 2019, then continuing that trend in January and February. March was looking great until COVID-19 hit.
"In the middle of March to be on pace to be in the best margin, to all of a sudden be brought to your knees ... from the highest point to the lowest point," General Manager Jason Brinkley said.
When the governor's order came down to stay-at-home and nonessential businesses were limited in how they could operate, Brinkley said the antique mall was basically a ghost town.
People weren't coming in.
They were also confused on if they could leave the house to shop at the antique mall. Brinkley, the general manager of the antique mall, said it's something he's never seen or experienced.
"Our staff are dealers, we were very resilient, we just tried to stay positive, as much as we could and treat every customer and try to really make them feel welcome, feel safe ... try to really help them," he said.
Our "Reopening Diaries" series will be looking at how our area is opening back up during an ongoing pandemic. We're examining businesses that are being inventive or facing difficult, unexpected setbacks. Know of any? Email reporter Laura Peters at lpeters@newsleader.com.
People just stopped coming into the store. But staff was still there. They had started being more proactive on cleaning — wiping down carts and other high traffic areas hourly along with sanitation stations around the entire store.
"We wanted our customers to feel safe in here," he said.
Then the store was limited to 10 people because it was considered a nonessential business under Gov. Ralph Northam's order, despite it having 135,000 square feet.
"We're bigger than Walmart, than Costco, than Target and even Lowe's," he said.
So, he turned to social media and online ordering.
"We really had to pivot and abide by the rules," he said.
He offered a platform for his more than 250 merchants to sell their products, they upped the posting on the store's Facebook page, started a group page for merchants to post more of their wares, offered shipping and then offered curbside pickup.
Brinkley said they would do Facebook live videos to offer their customers a store tour to look at merchandise along the streets — or aisles — in the entire antique mall.
"We did virtual tours of a street at a time to give people an idea ... to give them some retail therapy if they couldn't get in right at that time," Brinkley said.
Later, they started offering appointments for customers.
"We would tell people you can have an hour in here at a time. After that it would be subject to availability," he said.
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The first couple weeks were slow. But, then appointments started to come in.
"(Customers) were just grateful to have a place to shop," he said. "As big as we are, we took a common sense approach. We were thinking that some sales are better than no sales."
Brinkley said he kept his entire staff on, but allowed those who didn't feel comfortable working or had pre-existing conditions to opt to stay home. He also lowered the fees for the antique mall merchants.
"We know the antique mall doesn't succeed without our dealers," Brinkley said. "We didn't want people just moving their stuff out."
Staff during the week remained the same number — around six to seven employees. Brinkley said they were busier than ever; answering phone calls, booking appointments, engaging with customers on social media and more. The weekends, which is when they usually get high traffic, would normally have up to 12 employees, but that was significantly decreased prior to the governor's Phase Two.
Phase Two allowed them to operate at 50% capacity. Normally, they have a capacity of a few thousand — something they would never see all at once, except for a large event, Brinkley said.
April was the hardest month the store had, he said. But, he was able to pay the bills and his employees. He did say that his sales tripled from the beginning of April to the end, but not the normal tripling he'd see pre-COVID-19.
In mid-May, Brinkley started seeing sales numbers rise, making them stronger than the previous May. He said that during the time when many businesses decided to close entirely, he was glad he stayed open.
"We always had people tell us and thank us that it helped with their mental state to shop in the store," he said.
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You can reach reporter Laura Peters at lpeters@newsleader.com. Follow her @peterslaura.
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Reopening diaries: Factory Antique Mall turns to social media, appointments during pandemic - Staunton News Leader
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