VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Governor Northam officially gave the green light for Virginia to enter Phase One this Friday.
Salons and barbers can take appointments, and nonessential retail businesses can open at 50 percent capacity.
“Not everybody is going to feel comfortable and that’s totally understandable,” said The Lemon Cabana Owner Julie Deese. “But for the people that are ready to come out and feel comfortable, I think it’s a great thing to do.”
It’s been a long two months for local shops like Oceanfront boutique, The Lemon Cabana. Dees said they are ready to open, but it’s new territory.
Deese said half capacity for them is around 20 people.
“If it feels too crowded or not spaced, we may lock the doors for a bit until some people leave,” Deese said. “We are just going to try to do our best.”
Some owners are sitting out Friday.
Kitsch Handmade in Norfolk will open for three hours on Saturday.
“We weren’t sure if people were going to be coming out and shopping,” said Co-owner Danielle Norris. “If there was going to be enough shoppers, to be honest, make it worth our time.”
Norris said they’ve been trying private shopping hours.
“We schedule people and they come in,” Norris said. “We do about two people at a time at the most.”
Lynnhaven, Pembroke and Patrick Henry Malls, and the Norfolk Premium Outlets will all open Friday.
However, that doesn’t mean the stores inside will follow suit.
Mall officials told us that shoppers should check their websites to see what’s open before coming out.
“On our website, we will have a list and it will be ever-evolving,” said Patrick Henry Mall Marketing Director Mikia Ross.
Patrick Henry Mall will only have two facility entrances open for public use. Ross said they will have greeters and a welcome station at each.
“To provide a complimentary mask if shoppers need one,” Ross said. “They will have hand sanitizer.”
Ross said they will have designated counters, keeping the mall at 50 percent of their almost 5,000-person capacity.
“We are looking at about 2,400 people at one time can be in the property,” Ross said.
She said they removed cafeteria and mall seating.
“We recommend that people wear a face mask in the shopping facilities,” Ross said. “Maintain social distancing so we can try to have the safest shopping experience for them.”
Moving forward, both Norris and Deese will keep up their online and private shopping options.
“We will ship it to you or do curbside pickups," Norris said.
And do whatever it takes to make a customer’s experience enjoyable.
“It may be overused, but it’s really true right now, we are all in this together,” Deese said.
We also heard back from officials at the MacArthur Center in Norfolk and IKEA. Both said they will not open Friday but are working on reopening plans.