Kim McLaughlin, co-owner with her husband, Gary Manos, of the Laughing Crab Gallery in downtown Yachats, stopped by her shop to prepare a package for shipping Thursday.
By CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews.com
They’ve gone online.
They’ve taken phone calls and met customers at their shops.
They’ve applied for federal and state loans, local aid and are working with their landlords as they’ve become more nimble in adjusting to COVID-19 restrictions on businesses and visitors to the Oregon coast.
But with many lacking deep pockets, owners of the small tourist-oriented shops around Yachats are growing more worried about ever re-opening if closures last into the main summer tourist season.
Interviews with shop owners and managers reveal a mix of hope, worry and “Who knows?” as they struggle to make it through the coronavirus pandemic.
“It really does take a village to support local businesses so that we all get through this successfully,” said Kim McLaughlin, co-owner with husband Gary Manos of The Laughing Crab gallery along U.S. Highway 101 in downtown Yachats.
Like many “non-essential” Oregon businesses ordered by Gov. Kate Brown to close March 23 over health concerns, the gallery is making a fraction of its usual in-person sales via other modes.
Drawing on an eclectic inventory of work from over 50 Oregon artists, McLaughlin regularly posts their work on the gallery’s website. There are also posts on the shop’s Facebook and Instagram pages, and some customers are buying via phone. Also available are original works by Manos, a stainless steel artisan, under the name Steel Knight Designs.
Gift certificates are available for many local shops, which can put the cash to good use while they wait for walk-in traffic to resume.
While the Laughing Crab was already selling online prior to the shutdown, McLaughlin and Manos have ramped up their online merchandising.
“Quite a few of our artists are from the Oregon coast and Yachats area,” said McLaughlin, “so buying from us is a way to support the artists in our area, as well.”
They lease their gallery space and the couple feels fortunate to have a landlord who is being “very helpful” by reducing the rent for a few months.
Still, McLaughlin fears that if they have to keep doors closed through the crucial summer tourism months “there’s a good chance that we probably won’t survive.”
Marc Taylor, owner of Styx, Stones ‘n Bones in downtown Yachats, works on a birdhouse project with his son, Quentin while his story is physically closed.
Buy local, get a matching donation
Some potential short-term help comes from a city donation program. For every purchase over $25 made at a licensed Yachats business — including retail stores — the city will match the amount up to a total of $5,000 and donate it to the displaced worker fund and food pantry being administered by Yachats Community Presbyterian Church. The program runs through April 30.
The church has also launched an emergency relief fund to help struggling business owners. On Tuesday it awarded $20,000 to 15 Yachats businesses and still has more than $40,000 in the bank. On Thursday the Yachats City Council approved funding a $100,000 loan program with a maximum of $4,000 going to individual businesses. That program will be administered by a Springfield nonprofit.
Both gift certificates and online shopping are getting an extra boost at Styx, Stones ‘n Bones, where agates and semi-precious stones share space with fossils, geodes and gems. Owners Marc and Jen Taylor offer a 20 percent bonus on purchases of gift certificates for the shop, located at the corner of West Second and Beach streets.
Even before the March 23 closure, customers could call for a “virtual shopping” experience. If someone is looking for an amethyst geode, for example, Marc Taylor will make videos of his inventory — and then often make the sale.
“We’ve been doing that through the years because we traveled so much before we got to Yachats; we’ve been shipping a lot of stuff that way,” he said.
The shop is allowing select in-store appointments for one family at a time, he said, “on a case-by-case basis, as long as everyone is healthy.”
Since the closure, the Taylors have expanded their inventory to include wood blanks for wood carvers and live edged wood for furniture.
Although income is naturally down, Taylor expressed optimism about the future.
“We think it’s awesome that the community is coming together the way it has to support small businesses,” he said. “If the pandemic and closures drag on, we’ll transition everything to online — and we’ll stay in this building.”
While the Taylors were offered reduced rent, they declined.
“We’re paying what we’re supposed to on all our bills. We have big plans for future expansions, and we’re going to stick around.”
Yachats as a retirement community only?
While local support helps, one shop owner doubts that the city can resume its status as a tourism destination without a big helping of relief.
“It would be unrealistic of any of us to expect that just the local residents can sustain us; there’s only so much money to go around,” said Yvonne Erickson, owner of Just Local, a small gift shop in the C&K Plaza. “If the galleries and shops can’t keep going, if the restaurants go under … that basically makes Yachats a retirement community. Period.”
While the beauty of the area will continue to draw visitors, she believes that losing the “cute and quirky shops, the stores with personality” would severely hurt tourism.
Erickson closed her shop in mid-March, before the mandated closure.
“One day I had three ladies in the shop at the same time, two of them coughing, and I was just horrified. I wasn’t so worried about me, but most of my guests are older people, and it just wasn’t a safe environment for them.”
She’s still conducting business, mostly by email and sometimes by phone. People looking for a specific item may contact her to meet at the shop.
Erickson, who runs the shop by herself, fears for the livelihoods of her artisan-vendors.
“If it came down to it, I would work with my artists to get them into other locations and close the shop so that whatever tourist dollars we’re going to get wouldn’t be spread too thin.”
While her outlook is more pragmatic than positive, she has nothing but good things to say about how local residents have responded to the pandemic.
“I’m so proud of our community. The large majority of people have really stepped up with the displaced worker fund, social distancing … they’re doing all the right stuff. I’m really proud that I’m part of that … ”
Debbie Hempen of Yachats picks up an order Thursday from bookstore owner Mary Crook, who is taking orders by phone and then buying online for her customers.
Closing doors, opening up online
Another early closure occurred at Yachats Mystic Antiques, co-owned and staffed by Tracie and Fred Watson, who live just locks away. Fred Watson had a health issue last year that now made exposure to tourists risky, so the couple closed the doors in early March and developed additional online options.
“I just opened an Etsy shop to sell my huge backlog of really nice vintage clothes,” said Tracie Watson, whose shop also specializes in vintage jewelry, metaphysical books and small antiques.
Calling themselves “blessed to have a wonderful landlady,” Tracie Watson said the landlord “is working with us to make things as comfortable as possible for both parties.”
How long can they hang on?
“That’s hard to say; it’s one day at a time,” said Tracie Watson. “We have applied for the appropriate loan, but it’s not a given it will happen or be very much.”
While concerned about the impact on Yachats if several local shops have to shut down permanently, she said “what would be worse would be to push it and re-open too quickly and spread the virus here.”
With store closings and plunging sales the new business “normal,” it’s clear that area merchants are worried about their stores’ lifespans.
“If this drags on, we might ask our landlord if he would be amenable” to a temporary rent reduction, said Mary Crook, co-owner of Books and More in the C&K Plaza. “He (Jerry Clark, owner of the plaza storefronts) really wants to keep these businesses alive. I’m sure he will do whatever he can.”
Crook and co-owner Erickson had just opened their “new” bookshop March 1, taking over the former Mari’s Books, when the state’s closure order came.
“Some of our regular customers are calling with special orders,” Crook said, adding that she can have books delivered, or meet customers at the store. “Buying gift certificates is definitely very helpful,” she added.
How long can the bookstore keep going in current conditions? “I just don’t know. I’m definitely trying to think positive.”
“T-shirts don’t rot”
Goods like Yachats-emblazoned t-shirts, toys and home décor items are among items offered at Dark Water Souvenirs, which moved last fall from its space next to the Drift Inn to occupy the “Green Cottage” at the corner of West Fourth Street and Highway 101. Co-owned by locals Su Carey and her son, Noah Gouthenour, the shop is doing what it can to keep selling.
“People will call and say, ‘I need a birthday gift,’ so we make suggestions, and can make arrangements to deliver the item,” said Carey. The store also has a Facebook page. In business for seven years, the Carey applied for relief funding, but hasn’t heard anything yet.
How long can they hang on?
“My son says ‘T-shirts don’t rot,’” she laughed. “We’re hoping things break by the summer; once this (pandemic) ends, people will be ready to travel and see the ocean. We don’t have much choice … you might as well try to think positive.”
How to Buy
The Laughing Crab Gallery: thelaughingcrabgallery.com; steelknightdesigns.com; 541-521-9430.
Styx, Stones ‘n Bones: 541-653-3548; on ebay, Etsy and Facebook as Roadrunner Rock Hounds.
Just Local: justlocal@peak.org; 541-528-3325. Also on Facebook.
Yachats Mystic Antiques: imagineserenedreams@gmail.com. Also on Facebook and Etsy.
Books and More: 541-547-3022; booksandmore@peak.org.
Dark Water Gift Shop: 541-547-4151; suan1222@aol.com. Also on Facebook.
Ocean Beaches Glassblowing & Gallery: oceanbeachesglass.com; 541-563-8632; email–vicki@oceanbeachesglass.com or bob@oceanbeachesglass.com.
Thank you so much for this article. We own a second home in Yachats and are trying to honor the requests of full-time residents and stay away. But when we do return, we very much want to find the Yachats we know and love vibrant and strong. This gives us a way to offer support.
Could you also do an article on local restaurants with links to buy gift certificates?
Thank you for keeping us all informed.
Shana:
On the home page in the right hand column there is a public service ad by YN.C that asks people to support restaurants; if you click on the space it takes you to a restaurant list.