Even as Kansas City restaurants, salons and stores open, ‘things will feel different’
This is what the new normal will look like for Lumine Salon, a place where customers used to be greeted with a glass of wine or a cold beer.
For starters, no more wine or beer. Customers of the Kansas City hair salon will have to wait in their cars, not the waiting area, before their appointments.
To spread clients apart, there will now be six stations for hair stylists and assistants, down from 17.
Customers and employees will wear masks and the salon will feature a new $8,000 microbial reduction system to help purify the air.
Owner Nancy Weber mourns the changing environment, proud of the casual, unpretentious culture she had previously built. But she said her business must focus first on the safety of staff and clientele.
“It’s just not going to be as hospitable,” she said. “The haircut will be different.”
Across the Kansas City area, many businesses are preparing to reopen for the first time — some as soon as Monday — since government officials forced their closures to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.
But it doesn’t mean life will be returning to normal. Far from it.
Imagine: some businesses will be counting heads and collecting contact information, in case they need to reach out later with news that a customer tested positive for COVID-19. Youth sports — if they happen at all — may enforce rules once thought unheard of, like allowing just one parent per child to attend a game.
As hungry as diners might be to return to their favorite restaurants, some operators worry about reopening too soon. And professional offices, given the green light to bring workers back, may keep much of their workforce home for months to come.
Many businesses plan to reopen with caution — some are even holding off altogether. Because it’s still unclear whether consumers are ready to frequent retail stores, sit down at restaurants or go in for a haircut.
For her part, Weber has no worries about demand.
Her salon canceled 1,000 appointments in March and April. It’s working to build out a schedule with those that need attention the most — like those with hair extensions or highlights — in anticipation of opening May 16. While salons can open May 6, Weber said she needed time for deep cleaning and acquiring protective gear for employees and customers.
“There’s going to be more clients than there are people to actually do their hair in the city in a safe way,” she said. “Blonds still want to be blond. And people with short hair still want short hair.”
As much as the business will change, the reopening of salons will also mark a major turning point in the local battle against the pandemic. For weeks, people have been told to stay apart and to refrain from hugging loved ones. Weber thinks that will make customers appreciate hair cuts more than ever.
“We can’t hug people right now, but what we can do is shampoo people,” she said. “We can touch their hair and it feels so good to have your hair played with. It’s a really powerful thing. The power of touch and compassion and community. It’s more than just getting your hair trimmed.”
Some restaurants can open, but will they?
Shawn Barber, who owns restaurants in Liberty and Kearney, has been in the business for nearly 20 years.
He said he wants to proceed with caution, doing what’s best for the wider community.
“And it’s very difficult for us to know what the right thing is at this moment,” he said.
Conrad’s Restaurant & Alehouse in Liberty and Stables Grill in Kearney have been offering curbside orders in recent weeks. But he isn’t planning on opening the dining rooms on Monday, the day Clay County will allow many retail businesses, restaurants and gyms to reopen.
“What I don’t want to do is jump ahead and be irresponsible,” Barber said. “We’re in this for the long haul and we have to make decisions based on that.”
It takes time to plan for a reopening and Clay County didn’t issue its rules and guidance on how businesses should reopen until Wednesday. That uncertainty, paired with the prospect of an extremely limited customer base, has Barber holding off for now.
“I’m not real sure the risk is worth it at this point,” he said.
When the restaurants do reopen, he said staff will likely limit interactions with customers as they work to spread customers apart.
“I can guarantee change. It’s not going to be the way it used to be,” Barber said. “Our restaurant industry is about hospitality. It’s about human interaction. That’s what we sell. And when we can’t sell that, it’s problematic.”
With sales currently down as much as 90% at his restaurants, he doesn’t expect a quick rebound. He’s more worried about the long-term impacts on the industry — particularly if the virus takes hold again.
“It could be the fall before we start getting back to a semi-normal,” he said. “And if we don’t handle it responsibly, we might have another resurgence of this in the fall — what the first one doesn’t wipe out the second one may.”
For the iconic Chappell’s Restaurant & Sports Museum, a similar sense of caution is guiding decisions.
Managing partner Angelo Gangai said he could open as early as Monday. But he plans to wait at least a week or so. Located in North Kansas City, Gangai noted the restaurant is surrounded by Kansas City, where stay-home orders don’t relax for restaurants until May 15.
“I know I can open on the 4th, but boy you know I’ve seen such a backlash on social media,” he said.
Over the last several weeks, the restaurant has removed tables and chairs to help with social distancing. And it’s used the lull to complete some light renovations and a menu overhaul.
While he has sanitized the business from top to bottom and will equip all employees with masks, Gangai knows some customers are just not yet ready for a dine-in experience.
“Then there’s people who call me every day and say I can’t wait to go sit at the bar and have a cocktail. It runs the gamut,” he said. “Ultimately, it will be our guests that make the choice.”
Businesses take cautious approach to reopening
Made in Kansas City shuttered its stores before stay-at-home orders went into effect in March. Though it’s recouping some business through online sales, including masks, its seven brick-and-mortar locations were the lifeblood of the business, which sells locally made art, clothing and food products.
“The Chiefs had just won the Super Bowl,” said co-owner Keith Bradley, “and we were kind of on track to have probably one of our best years of all time...that just all came to a screeching halt in March.”
The Johnson County stores could open as early as May 11, while Kansas City locations can open on May 6.
But Bradley said the company has been conservative in its approach to doing business during the pandemic. And it likely won’t reopen until closer to May 15 — when Kansas City had originally planned to relax its stay-home order.
At its large Country Club Plaza location, he estimated Kansas City’s 10% capacity limit would allow between 30 and 40 customers to shop at the store at one time. That wouldn’t equate to the same level of sales as before the pandemic, but he said it would be “steady enough” to resume operations.
“That would allow for a really safe, spacious shopping experience for everybody, allow people to still move through the store quickly and find what they need while also being able to maintain a safe distance,” he said.
Even when fitness centers are allowed to reopen, Emily and Sarah Darling said they plan to open their Darling Yoga studio in Overland Park as slowly as possible.
The sisters have moved all classes online and will continue doing so as long as possible.
“Over the last month, we have had to quickly, and without much notice, completely reinvent our business, while also homeschooling our kids,” Emily Darling said. “So it has been quite a whirlwind.”
Before bringing clients back into their studio, the pair plans to remove high-touch surfaces like touch screens and pillows, and they will disinfect the space frequently.
“We typically have over 40 classes a week, but we imagine our reopening will be very cautious and slow, with class size limits and fewer classes overall,” Darling said.
In person, but different
As much as consumers have transitioned to online shopping, many still prefer to shop for furniture in a store.
They want to feel a couch, test out a mattress and see the shade of a fabric or paint color in person.
“Our everyday products that we sell don’t really translate to online,” said Laura Crowley, an owner of Crowley Furniture & Mattress, which operates three stores across the metro.
Crowley is planning on recalling some of its workers to help reopen stores soon. Employees will wear masks, install hand sanitation stations around its stores and collect any required contact information to help with contact tracing efforts.
“Those things will feel different,” Crowley said. “But the furniture buying experience is not going to feel uncomfortable.”
Consumers have been cooped up in their homes for weeks with plenty of time to ponder room renovations and furniture upgrades.
“With people being home so much there is definitely demand to upgrade some of those things you use every day or more than normal,” she said. “The home is the epicenter of where everything is happening for your own personal life. Work, play — all of that is at home now.”
Crowley runs stores in Lee’s Summit, Overland Park and Liberty. So the Liberty store plans to reopen Monday, but the other two will wait until May 11, when Jackson and Johnson counties implement their first wave of reopening.
In her statewide stay-home order, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly specifically exempted gun dealers. But Ryq Farnow still decided to close the doors of his Up In Arms Kansas gun shop in De Soto and allow customers in by appointment only.
“If I could help to prevent the spread of this, I wanted to participate,” he said. “At the same time, I really wanted to keep the community happy. And being in a small town like De Soto, that’s really important.”
Starting on Friday, Farnow began to relax things a bit, opening the store for its usual business hours. But for the immediate future, he will keep things open by appointment-only on Mondays and Wednesdays.
He plans to wear a mask and will keep watch over surfaces customers touch to quickly sanitize them.
Like other firearms dealers, demand has been surging during the pandemic, though Farnow said it has begun to level off.
He said he’s trying to strike a balance. He sympathizes with the crowd that wants life to go back to normal, but also feels inclined to proceed with caution to help keep the virus at bay.
“I kind of have to walk a fine line here and play nice with everybody,” he said.
A summer to remember — or forget
While stores and restaurants prepare to greet customers, other mainstays of social life like concerts, theaters and athletic events remain mostly off limits, foreshadowing a fundamentally different summertime in Kansas City.
Some groups have already canceled summer camps and Worlds of Fun has not yet announced its opening date.
Yet even as the fate of the Kansas City Royals season remains uncertain, some local youth sports leagues still plan to play ball this summer.
While the city of Liberty will keep playgrounds and basketball courts closed, officials last week announced plans to reopen a dog park, disc golf course, tennis courts and skate park on Monday.
It’s unclear when youth sports will pick up in Johnson County. But Jeff Stewart, executive director of the Johnson County Park and Recreation District, said he’s hopeful that some activities may start by the end of May or early June.
In Belton, plans are underway to launch city baseball, softball and T-ball leagues this summer, said Kevin Goodman, who manages the city’s parks and recreation department.
Goodman said the city will limit the number of kids allowed in each dugout — others will hang around outside. Volunteers will sanitize bats after each use. The umpire, who will move from behind home plate to behind the pitcher, will sanitize the ball every half inning. The city will also try to limit crowds, allowing only one parent per child to attend each game.
But Goodman acknowledged that none of those measures are foolproof, especially in a sport where multiple players handle the same ball.
“There’s going to be some risk coming in, and I think parents and people are going to have to understand that,” he said. “The people who are high risk, we’ve already offered refunds to. We leave our door open to refunds.”
Leaders of the Kansas City Zoo find themselves in a unique position: like movie theaters, malls and concerts, the zoo can draw big crowds. But it’s also 200 acres, allowing room for families to spread out across the park.
“We’re hoping it plays to our advantage in being able to open,” said Zoo CEO Randy Wisthoff.
He hopes the zoo can reopen May 16, but plans are still being vetted by city officials.
Whenever its gates open, the zoo plans to limit crowds to 4,000 or 5,000 people per day — about half the crowd of a peak summer day. The zoo will stagger ticket entrance times to keep people apart and some areas will move to one-way traffic, like the Africa exhibit. Additionally, the zoo plans to install hand sanitizer stations, revamp its concession areas and cancel events like the sea lion show.
While Wisthoff is unclear what demand will look like, he knows families are tired of being cooped up at home.
“Everybody wants to get outside in this beautiful weather,” he said. “It can be a safe way to come and get outdoors and kind of get back to whatever that new normal is going to be now.”
The Star’s Allison Kite, Jesse Newell and Sarah Ritter contributed to this report.
