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By Kaitlin Holley

The Atmore Advance

To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, businesses everywhere have closed signs in their windows.

Sarah Brown has worked at Carl’s Tot Shop for seven years and said she has never experienced anything like this closure before.

 

“We had to close, and that is a huge deal,” Brown said. “We do alot of business where people just call and say they want something. We deliver to customers or ship items out to them. We are going to have to rely on Facebook and Instagram as of now.”

 

The Tot Shop has been open since 1948 and has seen its share of events, including hurricanes, but nothing like this before, she said.

 

Mallorie Beachy, owner of the Yellow Garden Florist Shop, said “We are very disheartened and sad about what this is doing to Atmore.”

“We were on a roll economically, and it is going to hurt Atmore and everything we have worked for in the past 10 years,” she said. “We know Atmore is a very supportive and giving place. I know that the Atmore people are going to come back and support the local community.”

Gov. Kay Ivey released a statement on April 1, urging business owners to take steps to make sure they can protect their business as much as possible, including applying for a small business loan.

Final guidelines for how the federal government will distribute financial relief to Alabama’s small businesses will be released soon. In the meantime, Small Business Owners need to contact their local banker, accountant, financial advisor or credit union today to get the latest details about who is eligible, what documents are needed and the best way to apply for funding relief caused by the coronavirus.

“This coronavirus has disrupted life as we know it, including the critical economic role played by Alabama small businesses,” Ivey said. “Only a few short weeks ago, our economy was the strongest it had been in the past 100 years due to the hard work and entrepreneurship of Alabama Small Business Owners. We need our businesses up and running and back at full employment as soon as possible. I urge business owners to act today and be prepared to apply for assistance designed specifically to get them in front of the line when relief checks are written.”