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'We're excited and we're cautious' | Triad businesses gear up for Phase 1 of reopening

Greensboro florist, Daniel Stoner, said he's super busy with Mother's Day right around the corner. Retailers down the street said they're ready to get back to work.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — A big step forward for our state - phase one of reopening starts Friday. 

Many businesses in the Triad are ready to go.

Clothing stores, home décor stores, even florist shops like Randy McManus Design flower shop are prepping for the big day. 

“We have a tremendous number of delivery and pick up orders that have been coming in all week,” said Daniel Stoner with Randy McManus Designs.

They’re making sure they're following all the new rules and regulations before one of the busiest shopping holidays of the year - Mother's Day.

“You have to be aware of your customers and the environment and precautions,” Stoner said. “We're excited and we're cautious.”

Randy McManus is only allowing 20 people in the flower shop at a time. On-site sanitation stations are set up. Plus, they’ve installed plexiglass protection.

Kathryn Hashemi owns Just Be - a small gift shop downtown. They're only allowing six people in at a time and encouraging customers to wear face masks.

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“I just don't know how it’s going to be trying to help customers when I have to stay a certain distance and have something over my mouth,” said Hashemi. “But we're just going to make it work.”

Polliwogs children's clothing store is also opening this weekend.          

"We have Plexiglass between the registers. We’ve made Polliwogs masks to be safe that way. We have disposable gloves and masks if customers would like to have that,” owner Margaret White said. “They’re available just upon request.”

White said the children’s play area and restrooms will be closed. They’ve hired a professional cleaning company as well.

“We have our store professionally cleaned twice a week and we've always had that,” White said. “We're just going to have that a little longer now that we're going to reopen.”

Gate City Candy Company owner Daniel Wetherington is a part of Retail Alliance Downtown. He said the group will meet Thursday morning to come up with a plan for all downtown businesses.

“We've reached out to the city and DGI to put in hand sanitizing stations in all the stores that can be open. We're talking about implementing a mask policy,” Wetherington said.

Although phase one begins Friday, many of these businesses are still offering curbside and online sales for those who aren't quite ready to come in.

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