Businesses in the Davis Sq. area, such as the Somerville Theatre, are dealing temporary closure due to the effects of COVID-19 precautionary measures.

By Jessica Sisavath

“Having the students at Tufts University leave is a big blow,” said Joyce McKenzie, owner of Nellie’s Wildflowers. The current COVID-19 pandemic led some small businesses in Davis Sq. to unexpectedly reduce their hours of operation, serve fewer customers, and possibly close temporarily.

Small businesses are stuck with the empty streets, without the students and the professionals commuting from the Davis T stop during the week. Families are staying home, which is good for their health but not good for the health of these small businesses.

The uncertainty that the businesses may be closed down for a longer period of time is frightening and can put a dent in the finances that help them run their business.

When the City of Boston announced the restrictions for restaurants to offer takeout and delivery-only options, and most recently the closing of all non-essential businesses until April 7, the business community in Somerville’s Davis Sq. area were seeing already a dip in their sales, and fewer people patronizing their establishments.

Although they can continue operations remotely, some businesses rely on the face-to-face communication or walk-ins to sustain their activities. For McKenzie, reducing her hours of operations from 8:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. became a necessity. The uncertainty of not knowing how the COVID-19 updates were going to directly affect their business was stressful for the flower shop on a daily basis. There were fewer customers and regulars walking into the store. There is thankfully an online service at https://nellieswildflowers.com where the community has been placing orders.

The operators of Nine Espresso Bar are doing their part to practice responsible merchandising.

The flower shop was wiping down surfaces and diligently practicing safety measures during their deliveries. Family members from in and out of the state were ordering flowers to show kindness and care for their loved ones. If they had a delivery to be made, the shop would drop off the bouquet of flowers on the doorstep, then call the recipient to let them know they had a delivery.

March is usually the beginning of a busy time for the flower shop. All of Nellie’s Wildflowers planned events and conferences with Tufts University through the first of May were canceled. In addition, wedding celebrations and funerals were canceled. These were opportunities for the business to increase revenue. McKenzie had to cut down on staff and asked her employees to stay at home out of concern of their safety.

Although this is a stressful time where it may seem like a roller coaster ride, McKenzie finds that the community is still supporting her business. She suggests that if you want to find another way to show your family, friends, or neighbors that you care about them other than phone calls and video chats, consider ordering flowers online from Nellie’s Wildflowers.

Vargas Yavuryan, one of the owners of the Davis Square Shoe Repair and Tailoring feels business has also been very slow with students gone and fewer walk-ins dropping by. The shop is fairly small and people were dropping off but not picking up earlier as they usually do. Yavuryan said that on a normal Saturday in March there would be a line outside the door. Instead, a typical Saturday now has three to four customers walking in. “This time of year is supposed to be a very busy time until May. Now it’s even more slow than it is in the summer,” he said. Although the small businesses may suffer, Vargas said, “If it is going to be an official Emergency closing for everybody, I’ll be happy to close the door too because I have to.”

Edward Green of Nine Espresso Bar said that for the second of week of March, sales were decreasing for in-person coffee purchases during the day because fewer adults and professionals were coming in because they are working from home.

However, the business was able to meet their sales goals because customers were buying bags of specialty coffee beans in preparation for being at home. Green sees no interruption in the production of the business and is making sure that a full stock of bags of coffee for customers is available for purchase.

On the other hand, Green says, “My wholesale suppliers can’t get me the paper towels, hand sanitizer or anything that can sterilize stuff. It is sold out right now.” The access to cleaning products and sanitizers is not only affecting people who are shopping for these products in stores like CVS, but also affecting small businesses. The coffee shop is taking measures to ensure there is a lower potential spread of germs by not allowing personal cups.

Peter Mattchen, manager at The Somerville Theatre says, “We had to cancel all of our larger events going forward for the next month and two months plus.” Their sales started to decrease just before the state of the emergency occurred. Events were also an opportunity for the theater to make sales.

Large studios like Universal and Disney are postponing release dates for movies which may give the theater an opportunity to bring revenue back in once The Somerville Theatre opens again in April, as is their hope.