CORONAVIRUS
Utah Businesses Starting To See Uptick In Customers
Mar 9, 2021, 7:17 PM | Updated: 11:35 pm
OGDEN, Utah – A year into the pandemic, many small businesses have started to see the light at the end of the tunnel, after going through some of their toughest times.
It’s been a difficult time for business across the board. Just along Ogden’s 25th Street, some businesses have shut down and others were just barely reopening. The common thread keeping many going was community support.
La Crep OG owners and fiancés Kaleb Kidman and Jenny Guzman said there were the occasional rushes.
“I guess it’s not a dream yet, but hopefully,” Kidman said.
They opened the eatery toward the end of July 2020.
“That was very hard,” Guzman said. “We signed the contract before COVID, so when COVID (struck), we were like, ‘Oh, my goodness.’”
The couple decided they had no choice but to push forward, and hope for the best.
“It had its crazy ups and downs. The very first day, we were blown away with the support (and) long waits. It was pretty busy. It was pretty insane,” Kidman said.
Aside from those occasional bursts in customers, they said it’s slow during the week, and much better on weekends.
Still, they said they have hope in the near future.
“The last couple of weeks, everything’s slowly come back to life. I know it hasn’t jumped back, but there are some things,” Kidman said.
For longer-time owners of Tona Sush Bar and Grill, they said community support got them through the tough times.
“We have been, I would honestly say, pleasantly surprised,” said Chantelle Pectol. “We have had a tremendous amount of support.”
She said that support was a big reason why their business stayed relatively steady.
“I’m sure there will be lessons that we’ve taken from this that will help us to be even stronger in the future,” Pectol said.
Even with community support not everyone has been so lucky.
The owners of Jessie Jean’s were known for giving meals to IRS workers during the government shutdown in 2019.
After 20 years, their losses in the pandemic proved to be too much.
The folks at Tona said March is usually the tail end of their ski tourism season. They haven’t seen nearly as many tourists as usual, but said support from their regulars has made up for that.
