Restaurants and bars throughout the state of New Mexico are responding to the shutdown of businesses due to the coronavirus outbreak across the country.
There is uncertainty in the air for these businesses that have been ordered to either shut down entirely or switch to strictly a takeout or delivery system.
“Even before those orders came out, we already saw a huge decline in our business,” said Myra Ghattas, the owner of Slate Street Café, in an interview with KRQE News 13.
The report stated that the decline is forcing Ghattas to lay off 80 employees until at least Friday, April 10 – the date in which Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s current public safety order expires.
“We don’t know what the answer to this is and we don’t know what it looks like on the other side,” said Ghattas.
Gecko’s Bar, a usually crowded spot in Nob Hill, is another popular business forced to adhere to the newly implemented rules.
“Last few beers we’ll be pouring for quite a while,” Walden Minoli, the owner, told KRQE.
Several locations throughout the Nob Hill neighborhood had already closed prior to the governor’s orders.
“I felt we were bouncing back pretty good up until this crazy epidemic,” Minoli said.
The Golden Pride, down the street on Lomas, is another business adjusting to the implementations.
“We’re going to be depending on the drive-thru and the takeout that can be done over the counter in the store,” Larry Rainosek, the owner of Golden Pride and Frontier, told KRQE. “Things have really gotten difficult.”
While business may be tough now, owners are hopeful that things will soon return to normal.
“We’ll reopen, just support all of us in mass when we do,” Minoli said.
As for when businesses will reopen – that’s an entirely different question.
“If it’s not April 10, then it’s another date later than that,” Ghattas said.
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