OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — (Grand Haven Tribune) After Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive order of April 24 requiring all businesses to provide their employees with masks, some local business owners scrambled to comply.
Alex Rogalla, who owns the Spring Lake and Fruitport Orchard Markets, said he had to come up with more than 100 masks over the weekend. Now, after five days of wearing them, the workers seem to be adjusting, he said.
“Given that the mandate was set forth on a Friday and went in place Monday morning, it made it difficult to come up with the required amount of masks,” Rogalla said. “Some of the employees had their own already. We had a few people in the community that had been making them and donated them to the store. ... Field’s Fabrics in Spring Lake had a couple of their employees make a fair amount of them. There were some others, as well. We reached out and got a hold of some others.
“Everyone is covered,” he added, “but it wasn’t an easy task within a couple of days.”
Rogalla said he requires all store employees to wear masks, unless they have a doctor’s authorization due to medical conditions. He said none of his employees has such authorization at this time.
The masks took some time getting used to, he said.
“I’ve had some people very uncomfortable in them, including myself,” Rogalla said. “It’s challenging getting used to it. As you go on a few days, it gets better, but it’s a challenge. Some people are working six- or eight-hour shifts. It’s always nice to get a break and get some air.”
Rogalla said his employees are cooperative and understanding.
“The majority of people realize it’s something they have to do,” he said. “They’re being good sports about it.”
Rogalla estimates that about 95 percent of his stores’ customers are also wearing masks, up from an estimated 75 percent prior to the state mandate.
“I hear conversations from customers who are wearing masks that they are concerned about those that don’t have a mask on,” Rogalla said.
Kelly Larson – owner of Sweet Temptations, Fortino’s, Skoop’s, Front Porch and Temptations – said it was hard to find enough masks for her employees.
“Thank goodness for the Chalupas (Chris and Shaylynn) in Spring Lake – she made them for all of my employees on the fly, which is nice,” Larson said. “She made 25. Another employee made 10 or 12. A customer made 10 or 12. I’ve been kind of getting them from whoever I can.”
Larson was proactive in mask-wearing. She and her employees have donned them for two weeks.
Her takeaway from this is that local residents are kind and generous.
“The community continues to rally,” she said. “There are angels out there taking care of us. They shared with the senior community and medical workers, and it just keeps filtering down. We’ve all got to do our part to get through this so we can continue to make strides.”
Larson encourages her mask-wearing employees to take appropriate breaks for fresh air.
“I do have an employee who has asthma – she can’t wear a mask for more than 20 minutes,” Larson noted. “I’m going to try to not have her be so employee-facing. The FDA says you can’t catch it from food. With our enhanced safety protocols, I feel we’re a pretty safe environment.”
Pete Clark, assistant manager at Fortino’s in downtown Grand Haven, said after two weeks of wearing a mask for his eight-hour shifts, he’s getting used to it.
“We’re able to take a break when we’re not around any people to take the mask down and get a breath,” he said. “I think it’s a good idea to wear them. We have a lot of high-risk customers, so we thought it was safer to go that route. We didn’t want to put our customers at any unnecessary risk.”
Clark said business at the store has been good, and that many customers shop there to avoid large crowds in the bigger chain stores.
“We’ve been really fortunate to be able to keep providing for our customers,” he said. “We see a lot of people every day, a lot of our regulars, and we’re doing a lot of curb-side pick-up, too. ... All the customers have been great and understanding of the whole situation because we’re all kind of in the same situation.”
Erin Lyon, owner of Jumpin’ Java in downtown Grand Haven, said a family friend sewed coffee-themed masks for her and an employee. She said about 75 percent of their customers are also wearing masks.
“We get to take our masks off when people are not around,” she said. “We take them off so we can breathe for a minute.”
It sometimes is difficult to converse with a mask on, but Lyon said she’s getting used to it.
“There have been a couple of ‘whats?’ from both sides,” she said.
Lyon said they sanitize after every customer and disinfect the credit card machine after every use.
“We’re sanitizing everything,” she said. “We’ve got hand sanitizer and disinfectant all over the place. That’s normal for us here in the food industry.”
Jumpin Java’ reopened Wednesday after being shut down for a couple of weeks.
“The more people we get back to work, the more people that will be downtown again,” she said.
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