GREENSBORO, N.C. — The parking lot at Friendly Center is almost empty. There is no one out walking around and most of the shops have locked up. It is Saturday afternoon, “It’s like a ghost town around here, major retailers like Belk and Macy’s have shut down,” said Nayef Dergham.
The longtime small business owner has one of the few shops still open for business. Dergham owns Pita Delight and while customers can’t sit in the restaurant it is still open for takeout or delivery, “It’s been difficult, very difficult,” said Dergham.
When news of the Coronavirus in North Carolina was announced business slowed significantly and it got worse when all restaurants were required to go to only takeout or delivery, “We are doing about 70-percent less than business than normal,” said Dergham.
Despite the slow sales Dergham has decided to cut employee hours but allow everyone to keep working a little bit if they choose. He has not laid off anyone who wants to keep working although a few have decided to take some time off, “I’m trying my best as a business owner, I’m staying open to support these people who have families to feed,” said Dergham.
Businesses all across the Triad are feeling the effects of the virus as more and more businesses have been ordered to close or are simply choosing to close, “The business is not good, we can’t sustain it like this for too long if this goes on for some time,” said Dergham.
With four other locations also struggling to bring in customers Dergham may soon have to shutter one of two of his shops until the crisis passes, “We are taking it day by day trying to stay positive,” said Dergham.
Earlier this week Dergham looked out the windows of his store toward the parking lot that is usually packed, but instead of seeing hundreds and hundreds of cars he saw two geese walking in what was for the most part and empty lot, “I took a picture because you just don’t see that,” said Dergham.
He has also never seen anything like what’s going on right now, “We went through the recession and came back strong but this is a completely different ballgame,” said Dergham.