MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — An executive order approved this week by Montgomery County leaders sets limits on capacity inside businesses and social gatherings size. It continues to bring stress and concern for small business owners on Wednesday, especially as the holiday season quickly approaches.
capacity will be capped at 25% inside fitness centers, restaurants, museums, art galleries, retail stores and religious facilities, according to the order approved by the Montgomery County Council on Tuesday.
Social gatherings will also be capped to 25 people or less for parties, parades, receptions, festivals, and fundraisers.
County Executive Marc Elrich pointed to rising coronavirus cases in Montgomery County for why the executive order was initiated.
“We have been watching the daily number of new cases go up for more than two weeks and it’s, unfortunately, time to roll back some of our reopening steps in order to decrease the spike we are seeing,” he wrote in a statement. “Like you, I am experiencing ‘COVID fatigue’ and want things to go back to normal, but we have to stay at this in order to protect the health of our community."
For businesses like Bradley Party & Variety in Bethesda, the restrictions brought a double whammy; not only will fewer customers be allowed inside, but fewer parties will likely be occurring.
"It’s a big impact because most of our business relies on gatherings and events and holidays," said manager Nicole Hart. "People are getting together but it’s obviously different.”
Inside the store on Wednesday, customers could find all sorts of items to celebrate and decorate for birthdays, Christmas, Hanukkah and other holiday events.
Much like other businesses, Hart said the pandemic has brought a big hit to the store in 2020.
The latest restrictions this week brought even more concerns for Hart, who wondered how much celebrating would be happening for the holidays.
"It’s hard because we have to buy early for holidays and we have to do this in advance," she said. "We can’t guarantee what’s going to happen but we have to keep carrying on like normal so obviously we’ve lost out on some money. It’s a bad time for Christmas because we have so much stuff. We’re hopeful that people will still be shopping.”
Multiple local clothing stores that spoke to WUSA9 on Wednesday voiced similar types of challenges and concerns.
In particular, Hart believed a vaccine for coronavirus would help the local economy recover.
However, in the time being, she said any sort of government relief could go a long way.
"Financial aid would be helpful for everyone around here I believe but we can’t guarantee that will happen," she said. "It’s been a rough year and there were already stimulus checks going around.”
Moving forward, Hart hoped people would put a priority on shopping at local stores this year to ease the challenges posed by the pandemic.
"Not sure what the best solution is but hopefully we can all come together and continue to work through this," she said.