Yadirah Yañez, a bartender at Zim's Brau Haus in The Dalles, holds a card they use to thank take-out-only customers. Zim's has laid off about half their staff during in-person dining closures
The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce members Megan Thompson, Laurie Light, Mindy McHale and Lisa Rundell pose for a photo as they organize COVID-19 supply orders which The Chamber distributed to 190 local businesses.
Yadirah Yañez, a bartender at Zim's Brau Haus in The Dalles, holds a card they use to thank take-out-only customers. Zim's has laid off about half their staff during in-person dining closures
Lisa Farquharson has been crying. “You don’t want to know how many tears,” she says.
“This year, more than ever, we need to be supporting our businesses,” she said. “People don’t look beyond their keyboard, and we need to walk away from the computer, walk away from your phone and walk into a store.”
Farquharson said all retail businesses in The Dalles are complying with guidelines and offering safe shopping. “They’ve made great strides to adapt to everything that’s been thrown at them the last 10 months, what have we done?” she said.
“These are your next-door neighbors. They’re employing your kids or the student that’s across the street from you,” she said. “They’re paying property taxes. They’re paying employment taxes. They’re supporting the vitality and the vibrancy of our community and if you don’t know what they have to offer, I’d like to have a little chat with you,” she said.
Farquharson said each purchase makes a difference. She used a restaurant open for to-go orders as an example.
“They’re open the only way they can be. If they close they still have rent, they still have insurance, they still have utilities,” she said. Staying open in any capacity means more overhead expense to pay employees and buy supplies.
“If you only get one or two orders a night, you haven’t paid for just the employees. You haven’t even come close to covering the overhead,” she said. “Every purchase makes a difference, if you go from one to 10 a night, you’re getting closer to meeting those overhead requirements.”
At Zim’s Brau Haus, owners Connie and Bill Ford have had to dip into their savings to make payroll. The Fords said they have continued taking to-go orders—and losing money monthly—to avoid losing the quality staff they’ve put together over years.
Connie said Zim’s can’t afford to keep their entire staff working with the loss of revenue from lottery and drink sales. She does the book keeping for the restaurant and said their bottom line was in the negative by thousands despite a sizable profit on food sales.
“Many of our employees have been with us for a long time, some for more than a decade,” Bill said.
Yadirah Yañez is a bartender and server at Zim’s. These days she helps handle to-go orders as one of two front-of-house staff still working significant hours.
Yañez said work has sometimes been lonely and she misses the camaraderie she felt when Zim’s was full. A newly implemented online ordering process which bypasses the phone hasn’t helped her loneliness, but it has helped business.
Online orders and the offer of free delivery within The Dalles has tripled the to-go business, Connie said. She said the increase helps, but the Fords don’t know if they’ll be able to stay open through the winter.
Farquharson said this winter will be the most difficult time yet for many local businesses. She said some rely on tourism to generate 50-75 percent of their revenue. After last summer’s ban on non-essential travel, these businesses are heading into winter “starving,” Farquharson said.
The chamber has helped distribute government relief funds and worked with Google to establish and award a $1,000 grant to 53 businesses, Farquharson said.
The Fords have received three grants and a Payroll Protection Program (PPP) loan and are applying for more aid. “Without these, we wouldn’t be open,” Connie said, holding up a two-inch thick folder of grant documents.
The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce members Megan Thompson, Laurie Light, Mindy McHale and Lisa Rundell pose for a photo as they organize COVID-19 supply orders which The Chamber distributed to 190 local businesses.
Photo courtesy of Lisa Farquharson
Farquharson said the community needs to take action to support local businesses. “I can’t iterate enough the difference every dollar makes,” she said. Farquharson said she and her husband avoid shopping online and try to keep all of their spending in the community.
She said her dream as chamber director is that people will change their spending habits to keep most of their paychecks circulating in town. She dreams of social media posts showcasing local products and shops instead of shipments from online retailers.
“They complain that we don’t have as many businesses as we had in the '80s. We didn’t have online shopping in the '80s, so our businesses are competing with so many levels and our community doesn’t help,” she said. “They can’t stay open for two customers a month.”
The chamber’s new Explore The Dalles Gift Card aims to divert money from online retailers back to local business. The card works the same as other prepaid gift cards — with a magnetic strip that can be swiped at a variety of participating businesses.
“Many people will go buy Visa gift cards and give them to their staff or give them to their grandkids,” she said. “We know that a VISA or MasterCard gift card does not get spent local. It goes right to Amazon, pretty much guaranteed.”
Farquharson said the Chamber gift card allows residents to “give the gift of local.”
She said the 30 businesses participating so far offer goods and services ranging from oil changes, pizza or beer to guided hunts or rafting trips from Sage Canyon Outfitters.
Farquharson said she is deeply concerned about the impact losing small businesses could have on the community’s overall health. “We need to help this community understand the depth of the impact they can have, both negative and positive, if they take action or don’t take action,” she said.
Farquharson encourages people to share pictures and videos of local businesses on social media. “Let’s be the ambassadors and just broadcast it like no other. Let’s fill up everybody’s social media feeds with the good stuff about our community,” she said.
Commented