Safety a higher priority than sales for many small retailers

NEW YORK (AP) — Dan Marshall’s toy store should be crowded this time of the year with parents and grandparents buying gifts and children trying out games. Instead, only a handful of customers are in Mischief Toy Store at any time, and their visits are short and efficient.

Yet while the coronavirus outbreak is giving Marshall his most challenging holiday season in over 20 years in business, his priority is keeping everyone — customers and all the workers in his family-run business — safe. So, he’s encouraging shoppers to buy from the Mischief Toy Store website or order by phone rather than at the St. Paul, Minnesota, shop. He also arranges for virtual shopping trips, where customers can see the store’s merchandise online.

“We are in the weird position of wanting people to shop, but not wanting them to come into the store,” Marshall says.

Retailers are taking extraordinary steps this holiday season in hopes of lessening the spread of the virus. The steps go beyond limiting the number of people in a store; besides encouraging online shopping, many owners are setting up appointments before and after hours for private shopping trips. Owners ask customers in their stores to limit the amount of time they spend there. Curbside pickup, delivery and shipping are standard operating procedure.

All this is in addition to state and local restrictions on how many people can be in a store at a time. Some owners, Marshall included, have decided to set a limit even where there are no government orders. He’s allowing 10 people in at once, a third of what he’d expect during the holiday season.

Small and independent retailers have been among the hardest-hit businesses during the pandemic. Not only are they contending with government restrictions, but many consumers worried about catching the virus don’t want to...