Amidst changes, cancellations and closures in response to COVID-19, many small business owners in the Des Moines metropolitan area are unsure of how to make ends meet during a time of uncertainty. Concert venues, retail shops and restaurant owners alike are finding ways to slowly pick up the pieces. 

Business operations for restaurants and bars were restricted by Gov. Kim Reynolds on March 17, five years to the day since Anne Mathey got the keys to open Lefty’s Live Music in Des Moines. 

The weekend before Lefty’s was ordered to shut down, Mathey said plenty of tours and shows they had booked were already beginning to cancel.

“Really, we’ve just kind of been taking it one day at a time,” Mathey said. “It didn’t seem like we could go 10 minutes without getting an email or a phone call from some other thing that we had on the books saying that they weren’t coming.” 

Lefty’s has begun live streaming concerts via their Facebook page in an attempt to bounce back from the restrictions. Their first stream, a performance by the band Pinewood Overcoat, was hosted Feb. 22.

Mathey said the idea was inspired by the many artists choosing to livestream makeshift concerts from their homes while in isolation, and it seemed like the way to progress through the predicament. 

“It kind of seemed natural,” Mathey said. “We have all this equipment and an empty room — and if bands who were scheduled to play already or who just want to come in, jam for a while and stream it out to people — [it would] help us out, help them out and get their music out there.”

Mathey said their first stream had a surprisingly positive turnout of over 1,000 views and a lot of engagement in the comments. She also said more streams are on the way, as several bands are interested in stopping by Lefty’s and streaming performances on their originally scheduled concert dates. 

Putting any sort of paywall in front of a Facebook live stream is currently not possible, but Lefty’s chooses to continue sharing music during this time of trouble, despite the lack of income.  

“I think we just want to, as a business, keep our name out there and in people’s minds,” Mathey said. “We had plastered on the screen our Venmo and PayPal information for people who wanted to donate to the stream.” 

On top of accepting donations, Lefty’s is offering to-go and delivery sales on some alcohol, as most of their income is from concession sales rather than ticket sales. Due to the loosened restrictions on liquor licenses during the pandemic, which has allowed for bars to retain some income, Mathey has also offered to deliver six-packs to the homes of those who are social distancing.  

As far as what’s on the horizon for Lefty’s Live Music, Mathey said it’s a matter of taking things one day at a time and relying on the loyalty of the community for support. 

“[We’re] just kinda relying on the goodness of the community, our friends and whoever’s willing to step up, help us out and throw us a couple bucks or come in and grab a six-pack that might be a little more expensive than Hy-Vee,” Mathey said. “If you’re willing to, pay the extra three bucks to help us out and have us be able to open our doors again.”  

Reynolds ordered the closure of retail clothing stores March 26. Despite having never experienced anything like this before during their one year as small business owners, Allison Lyons and Chloe Sokolov, co-owners of Rumors Vintage in Des Moines, are finding creative ways to adapt to the situation. 

“We just changed our day-to-day work,” Lyons said. “It’s been almost all online, and we basically just hang out at the shop or at [Sokolov’s] apartment and post clothes online.” 

Rumors Vintage has a large presence on Instagram, which allows Lyons and Sokolov to list featured clothing items on their story for customers to purchase via direct message, as well as keeping their customers engaged in their business via social media. 

“We did a little Instagram game-thing yesterday trying to get people to post vintage items that they love from their homes,” Lyons said. “We message back and forth with a lot of our regulars, and they’ve been asking how we’re doing, and people have been approaching us asking us if they can buy gift cards, which is nice and helpful. The community has been great to us.” 

Thankful for the community of small-business supporters backing them up, Lyons said Rumors Vintage has been doing free delivery to their customers who cannot leave their homes. She said the positive response has been overwhelming. 

“There’s been a surge of small business business,” Lyons said. “We’ve talked to other people, like our friends who just recently opened up a restaurant called Lucky Lotus, and their sales over-the-phone increased by three times, they said.” 

Excited to revamp rather than restart, the pair are also taking this period of closure as an opportunity to assess business and prepare to come back bigger and better than ever.  

“[We’re] taking the time to plan for future events down the line in the summertime,” Lyons said. “Really just kind of taking a step back and looking at things together, have a really solid plan, stock the shop up with good stuff as much as we can and get it looking as nice as possible for when people start coming back.” 

Opened in 2003, La Mie Bakery is a well-established and popular Des Moines staple with three different locations. Owner Joe Logsdon said receiving the news that La Mie would have to close its cafe to the public was a huge hit.

“When somebody tells you that something’s just happened, like a death or whatnot that was just random, you don’t really believe until you go there the next day and that person’s not there or you go into your business the next day and nobody comes in,” Logsdon said.

Logsdon said his current plan to work through the restrictions is to work backwards, reassess the business and create a new purpose to survive every day, both financially and mentally, through to-go and delivery only.  

“We were a $60,000-a-week company with a $20,000 payroll; this last week I did $13,000, and this week, I’m on track to probably about the same amount,” Logsdon said. “My business is only as good as I can make it for the people I surround myself with.”

Having been in the business for nearly two decades, Logsdon said the threat of foreclosure has occurred for him before COVID-19, including during the Great Recession of 2008. While he was able to bounce back each time, Logsdon said it gets more difficult each time.

Despite this, Logsdon said he continuously finds new ways to keep himself and his staff motivated in the midst of an uncertain future. 

“The hardest thing to do in the restaurant business — or any business — is to close,” Logsdon said. “Because then you have to reopen, and that’s so hard. It’s probably more difficult than when you open the first time, because the rules are going to change, people’s perceptions of things are going to change and their lifestyles are going to change.” 

Logsdon said he feels confident in his ability to keep his business afloat and offered advice to other small business owners who may be struggling.

“The one thing you want to do is you need to know every aspect about your business; you need to know what this costs you and what that doesn’t cost you,” Logsdon said. “Roll up your sleeves because this is when the people who know how to do it are going to stay in this game. None of it’s cheap, free or easy. You’ve got to roll them up and do it, and this is how you learn.”