DES MOINES, Iowa — Many small businesses in the Des Moines metro are already starting to struggle as the coronavirus pandemic affects them hour by hour.
The sales from the Bondurant boutique Little House on Main is what puts food on the Svoboda family's table.
"We don't know what the impact is going to be on our store," said the owner, Amanda Svoboda. "We will most likely have to shut our doors at our physical location. And it's going to be huge for families like ours."
Especially since Amanda's husband, Zach is also self-employed. He's a singer-songwriter, and also hit hard by this pandemic.
"For starters, I had roughly $4,000 of income just negated from schools having to cancel," said Zach, who regularly performs his songs and speaking at schools, to promote kindness.
Now, instead of performing for schools, he's trying to get creative, doing online performances.
"Custom songwriting, song videos for people, personalized birthday videos, auctions for future shows," said Zach. "I'm just trying to think outside the box."
Amanda is trying to move the boutique online with Instagram live sales and Facebook live sales. It's not only for the safety of others but the safety of their immunocompromised son.
"[Zion] just had his second open heart surgery last year, so his life is at risk with this virus going on," Amanda said.
Over in Clive, Sarah and Toney Chem know they'll likely soon have to shut the doors to the dining room at bagel shop 5 Borough Bagels. As it is, their sales already started dropping Sunday.
"It was definitely a wake-up call for us so we quickly had to think of a plan B," said Sarah.
Now, they're working to offer curbside pick-up and delivery. However, there's a lot of pressure banking on whether or not it will work.
"Since this is our only income, we can’t figure out another way to get income," said Toney.
"In our head, we're like keep going, keep going, keep going," said Sarah.
But whether at the boutique or at the bagel shop, these small business owners are doing what they can to bring a smile to the faces of everyone who's struggling.
"There’s voices telling you this is the end of the world, there’s voices telling you it’s no big deal," said Sarah. "So you’re kind of stuck in the middle. But it just forces me to have even more positive energy. And have even more fun, make people laugh, wake people up, offer more coffee. More coffee is the way to go always."
So whether it's buying gift cards, or ordering pick-up, find a way to show a little love to the local business near you this week.
"When I see our regulars come in I smile really big because I'm like thank you, thank you! You know? They're here for us," Toney said.