Reopening their doors

It's certainly not time to rejoice, but it's something.

Dee Madrid is happy to be back to work.

This weekend, after being closed for two months, she was able to re-open her sports memorabilia store in Clovis, bringing her fan favorite Pomeranians "Genesis" and "Montana" back with her along with Kansas City Chiefs hats, New York Yankees shirts, and all her other merchandise.

"I've never been off two months from closing the store," said Madrid, who had been running Sports Connection six days a week for nearly 28 years before the coronavirus hit.

Madrid was always busy on that seventh day, Sunday, too, running her ministry, Kids For Christ, where she's known as Sister Dee. While that part of her life is staying on hiatus for now, Madrid's six-day-a-week venture is back and, she thinks, will be as safe as it was before, because social distancing was always practiced there, informally.

"My business, I'm not going to get a bunch of people at once," Madrid said. "I can control how many people come in here. ... This was already going on; it wasn't called social distancing, it just happened."

Multiple other stores the governor had deemed "non-essential" also were able to reopen on Saturday, clearly to the pleasure of their customers.

Hobby Lobby had a line 20 people long prior to its opening on Saturday morning. By 11 a.m., its parking lot had 60 to 80 vehicles in it and masked crafters were seen exiting the store with bags of something to make.

As of Saturday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's latest public health order allowed New Mexico to re-open somewhat. Among the highlights:

n Retailers are allowed to operate at 25 percent of the fire code capacity.

n Houses of worship can operate at 25 percent capacity.

But malls, gyms, salons and barbershops cannot re-open, while restaurants must continue to offer curbside and take-out service only.

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Robert Vilandry said when he came to his Bullet Bob Has It store on Clovis' Main Street at 9 a.m., three customers were waiting outside and it was a steady flow throughout the morning

Inside, Cyn Tom was wandering the aisles of the store with her son, Chance Yazzie. Tom, who's been in Clovis for the last few months on construction work, had seen some of the vintage items through the windows of the closed store for weeks. On Saturday, she decided to almost treat the store like a museum as she explained to her son what some of the antique products did.

She's enjoyed her time in Clovis, but does have concerns because her next job is in McKinley County, which has the highest infection rates for COVID-19 in the state. Curry County coronavirus cases are well below the state's average, with just 36 reported as of Saturday morning.

About 10 customers were in Bullet Bob's just before lunchtime. Vilandry said his maximum occupancy is roughly one person per aisle.

"We'd have to have a bus drop off people (for that to be a concern)," Vilandry said.

A block away, the Main Street Crafters Mall staff reported a slow reopening with just one customer in the first few hours.

Anna Powell, who's owned the store for 18 years, surmised the people who make up her customer base were likely the ones in line at Hobby Lobby.

"People will start coming back once they realize we're open," Powell said.

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But not everyone is back to anything close to normal.

At the Bethel Assembly of God Church, Pastor Ed Sullivan had been meeting his flock on Sundays for roughly two years before COVID-19.

Since, Sullivan has been meeting with that flock virtually, through Facebook and YouTube, and will continue to do so a little while longer, even though the governor's health order allows 25 percent capacity in churches.

"We are not opening this weekend," said Kim Sullivan, the pastor's wife and church secretary. "We're a very small congregation and we are waiting to hear a little bit about going forward. We also want to make sure we have things in place properly for the safety of our congregation. ... Are we going to provide masks? Do we have enough soap? Things like that. Our congregation tends to be a little older."

Pastor Sullivan had been ahead of the game anyway, conducting Facebook Live prayer sessions on Tuesday nights since January 2019. For the time being he will keep preaching virtually only, with Facebook Live services every Sunday morning at 8 and 10:45, and 2 o'clock devotion Tuesday through Friday afternoons on his Facebook page. He also utilizes a YouTube account to help reach his parishioners.

Salons and barbershops, meanwhile, remain closed until at least June 1, which is frustrating for their owners, some of whom think they can easily employ safety measures.

"When we go to (barber) school we learn safety precautions, disinfecting germs," said Lisa Holt, owner of Main Street Barbershop in Clovis. "We can't get a license unless we pass a test; that's part of our test. And if we follow the rules of face covering and we disinfect, I don't know why we can't open. I feel safer with me wearing a mask and my customer wearing a mask than I do going to the grocery store."

Diane Gallegos, owner of Making The Cut Hair Studio in Portales, says her customers are getting as shaggy as they are restless, remembering what one in particular said on the phone.

"'My hair looks horrible; please help me,'" Gallegos recalled. "I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, I can't.'"

Gallegos has been closed since March, and like plenty of other small business owners, has run into a brick wall when trying to apply for stimulus money. But the bills don't stop.

"I've always saved here and there for a rainy day," Gallegos said. "And here's the rainy day."

Editor Kevin Wilson contributed to this report.