Business owners buckle down for new covid restrictions

For some local business owners, the expanded state health and safety orders that went into effect Saturday were another punch to the gut, during a year in which they’ve already absorbed plenty of body blows.

At Jioio’s Restaurant in Greensburg, owner Tony Jioio is buckling down for a tough holiday season.

“This is kind of a bad time of year for this to be happening,” he said. “I expect it to be like the last time we had the lockdown: takeout will be busier, but we won’t have any dine-in service.”

This time of year, Jioio’s also does a brisk business catering food for Christmas parties that largely won’t be happening in the next few weeks.

“We’re probably at half the amount (of events) we were last year, and if there are events happening, they’re a lot smaller,” he said.

For others, Saturday was largely business as normal.

“We haven’t made any changes today,” said Alaa Alamili, owner at Amili’s Pizzeria near the Plum-Murrysville border on Route 286. “Actually, we’ve gotten busier.”

The pizza shop has only a handful of tables and was already doing a brisk takeout and delivery business before the first round of health and safety guidelines took effect.

After weeks spent imploring Pennsylvanians to stay home as much as possible, limit in-person interactions and wear a mask, Gov. Tom Wolf and the state secretary of health issued new orders shutting down indoor dining, gyms, school sports and more as cases and deaths across the state continue to swell.

The order will last through 8 a.m. Monday, Jan. 4.

In Export, Jigger’s Pub owner Tony DeCesare is joining forces with the competition, partnering with fellow Washington Avenue bar Joey’s the Edge to promote the borough.

“On Monday, we’re going to give out punch cards and try to encourage folks to do takeout for drinks and food,” DeCesare said. “We want to give them a chance to walk through downtown and enjoy themselves. And we have some firewood and some burn barrels so that folks can hang out outside.”

In Greensburg, Comrades Barber Shop manager Joe Henderson said cleanliness was already at the top of his list before the pandemic began.

“If you open up the barber’s book, the first thing it says is that sanitation is the very most important thing,” he said. “So we’re already pretty clinical as it is. But there are some measures we’ve taken: We change capes on every client, we and the clients wear masks, no more waiting room, things like that.”

Dave Luehm’s North Huntingdon business, Luehm Candy Co., has seen good and bad throughout the pandemic.

“The bad thing is we distribute to bars, restaurants and small grocery stores,” Luehm said. “The small mom-and-pop grocery stores seem to thrive in this environment, so we’re doing good business with them. But we’re not doing business with any restaurants right now.”

Luehm said one small silver lining he’s seen is additional retail business at his store off Route 30.

“Our Christmas business has been pretty good,” he said. “We’ve had to shift our focus from wholesaling to restaurants, and more toward retail.”

One Luehm’s item that restaurants are still buying plenty of is takeout containers. Luehm said it’s given him a window into the precarious financial situation so many food service business owners are in.

“I had a restaurant owner in today, and she was saying that it’s just so much harder — and more costly — doing only takeout and delivery, and people don’t always understand,” he said. “They feel like they should be paying less compared to sitting down at a restaurant, when in reality the cost is usually higher for the business.”

For Henderson, even though the primary restriction on his business is capacity, he is still feeling the effects of the expanded health and safety guidelines.

“It’s time-consuming, but beyond that, some clients just haven’t come back,” he said. “They’re still quarantining, and we just do what we can to follow all the guidelines.”