Gyms, day cares among nonessential businesses closing; banks, repair shops, convenience stores stay open

The Legends of Pittsburgh bustled Monday with hand sanitizer-armed gym rats sweating through one more hard workout before the coronavirus pandemic cut off access to their club indefinitely.

Monday marked their last chance to do so for at least the next two weeks. The fitness center anchoring a corner of the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills shopping mall just off Route 28 in Frazer typically is open 24/7.

“There are still some people coming all day, people are getting it in right now while they can, because it looks like we’re going to close by 8 p.m. tonight,” Nick Lundberg, who co-owns Legends, a family-run business, with his brother and father, said shortly before 5 p.m. A few hours earlier, Gov. Tom Wolf imposed a 14-day shutdown on “non-essential” businesses statewide.

Gyms, yoga studios, recreation centers, golf clubs, casinos, bars, concert venues, athletic facilities, most retail outlets and hair and nail salons are among businesses specifically designated by the state as “nonessential.” Such places must close until the month’s end, and perhaps longer, under the sweeping order issued by the Wolf administration.

The move is in line with states around the country heightening restrictions on local commerce to thwart the local spread of the novel coronavirus that causes the highly contagious disease covid-19.

“It’s certainly a weird time, no doubt about it,” Lundberg said. “None of us has experienced anything like this in our lifetimes. It’s going to be an interesting two weeks.”

‘It’s going to be tough’

The owners of several types of businesses in the region say they understand and support the need to protect public health. But they’re also worried about paying fixed bills and meeting payroll obligations amid the partial shutdown, particularly since it remains unclear how long the restrictions might last.

President Trump said Monday during a White House news conference that the outbreak’s impacts could continue through July.

“We’re prepared, but I feel bad for a lot of other businesses that maybe aren’t,” Lundberg said.“There’s a lot of businesses that are going to be running on shoestring little budgets, and it’s going to be tough. But we’ll push through. You don’t have a choice, you just have to take it as it comes.”

National fitness chains such as Planet Fitness posted notices online that all gyms would be closed as of 9 a.m.

Child care centers across the Alle-Kiski Valley scrambled to keep up with the developing situation and help their parents and caregivers find alternative options.

Mary Jo Boyer, director of Dynamite Daycare on Sixth Avenue in Tarentum, spent much of the day trying to get clarity from the state to make a decision on closing by the time parents picked up their children Monday evening. She suggested that some parents turn to the likes of college students stuck at home amid university and study abroad program suspensions as one option.

Some of the center’s parents already are working from home. The day care had about 30 children on Monday, for about 10 fewer kids than they usually do.

Repair shops, banks, convenience stores staying open

Grocery stores, pharmacies and gas stations all should remain open, per both the Wolf and Trump administrations. So should health care facilities and retail outlets that sell health-related or other critical items.

Other types of businesses similarly have vowed to stay open as long as they can because they deem their services “essential” — including Weleski Truck Repair on Fourth Avenue in Tarentum.

The five-employee vehicle repair shop — which works on everything from cars to semis to medical vans — said that its largest client right now is the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System. The system brings the shop its vans used to transport seniors to medical appointments as well as mobile units that carry up to 10 patient cots.

“Most of their buses are mobile hospital units, so we’ve got to make sure they’re working on them,” truck shop manager Karl Kruger said.

One of the few stores that remained open on Sixth Avenue in Tarentum was Asay’s News Stand, where customers can buy staples such as bread, milk, canned soup, aspirin, cat and dog food and toilet paper. All those items were stocked and available on Monday afternoon.

“I’ve got basically a little bit of everything,” said Kevin Bertocki, the convenience store’s owner.

Bertocki says he plans continue operating unless he’s ordered to shut down.

“There’s a lot of people in this town that walk, that don’t have transportation, and I have basically everything you need here to survive,” Bertocki said. “I have the food products and I do have some of the nonprescription medications that people might need. … I even have some old movies for people to watch on their DVD player.”

And Bertocki said he definitely won’t hike prices amid the crisis.

“People don’t have tons of money in this town,” he said, “so I try to keep it respectable to keep a steady stream of customers coming in.”

Banks open, but urge customers to use online services

Banks across Western Pennsylvania remained open on Monday, with local branch employees working diligently to keep surfaces and their hands clean.

Tellers at the S&T Bank branch in Penn Hills wore gloves, and customers used hand sanitizer in the lobby. Hours for both the drive-thru and lobby remained the same, but the bank has a plan to go drive-thru only should the need arise, branch Manager Brittany Carter said.

“Everybody is pitching in and doing their part,” Carter said.

Signs posted at the PNC and Dollar Bank branches in Penn Hills encouraged customers to use online and mobile banking apps if possible. Both maintained regular hours for their lobby and drive-thru financial services.

“I think we’re all in the same boat here,” said Joseph B. Smith, Dollar Bank’s senior vice president of marketing. “We’ve been very concerned about the teller-customer interaction. … We have a plan in place for branch closures. We intend to keep our branches open until we have to close them.”

Restaurants struggle to stay afloat with takeout

The governor’s Monday order on all nonessential businesses statewide expanded a mandate issued Sunday that had called on all of Allegheny County’s restaurants and bars to halt dine-in service and switch to takeout-only.

Many restaurants quickly scaled back hours, and some decided to close altogether without enough employees or customers to sustain operations.

Ladles Restaurant in Springdale Borough has 23 employees, and hoped to stay open on a “skeleton crew” of about eight or nine people. But not enough customers placed to-go or lunch delivery orders Monday for them to do so. Takeout meals typically making up less than 10% of their business during good times.