Kara Wagenknecht听is a journalism student in the College of Media, Communication and Information at CU Boulder. This story was written as part of a package of reporting on COVID-19 by students in Assistant Professor Christine Larson's class, Writing for the Media. All stories have been lightly edited for style and updated based on new information.听
Iowa City, Iowa鈥擨n April, the streets that once stirred with college students and locals were empty. The doors that stayed open were locked. The once-booming town of Iowa City, Iowa, was now a barren city due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
With more than听, COVID-19 has hit the Iowa City area hard. The community has also suffered a听loss of income due to college students and locals no longer roaming the streets.
Local businesses across the nation continue to suffer听from the impacts of COVID-19. Unemployment rates have and businesses have found themselves to keep their doors open. Even in Iowa City, businesses had to close their brick and mortar stores and transition into delivery and pick-up options to follow social distancing orders.
鈥淚t鈥檚 weird, it鈥檚 kind of lonely because we do have really good relationships with all of our guests鈥攊t鈥檚 like an extended family,鈥� said Katie Ford, general manager of in Coralville, Iowa. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e a little more than just a customer to us.鈥�
But first, coffee
Ford had to shift her approach to keeping the community caffeinated. She reduced business hours in half and began only accepting orders from 7听to 11 a.m., Monday through Wednesday, and from 7 a.m. to noon, Thursday through Sunday.
鈥淢ost of our business, pre-coronavirus, is done in the morning. So, it was kind of a no brainer to still stick with the morning as far as being open for hours,鈥� Ford said. 鈥淪ince the cafe is closed now and with social distancing 鈥� they鈥檙e looking to get their coffee and either go back home, go to work, or surprise a friend with coffee for their day.鈥�
After closing the brick and mortar storefront, Ford began taking orders via Jump, an online coffee ordering app, and is accepting phone orders both for pick-up only.
鈥淚f it hadn鈥檛 been for [Jump] I think we would have been scrambling pretty hard because call-in orders are difficult with taking people鈥檚 credit card information over the phone and then going to make the drinks,鈥� Ford said. 鈥淭he app ordering has been really great鈥�
Ford had been operating Press with one other employee after having to lay off the rest of her staff, like many employers across the nation. According to an April survey by the , 25% of employers had to lay off employees and 38% had to reduce employee hours. Luckily for Ford, many of her employees were only working partial hours and had other jobs to fall back on.
By reducing inventory and not serving other local foods like sandwiches from Nodo and doughnuts from Donutland, Ford was able to financially keep the business running.
Looking forward, she is going to keep using Jump for mobile orders and is ready for the commotion to return to the shop, she says.
鈥淚 know business will flourish again,鈥� Ford said. 鈥淚 hope that the app orders continue for the people that are in a rush or have a larger order and that it makes it simpler for them to use us. I want our outdoor patio filled with people for the summer 鈥� I want to see everybody.鈥�
Bustling plants
For Anne Armitage, business looked听a little different. Armitage is the co-owner of Moss, a plant and gift shop with locations in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Moss was only a brick and mortar store prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, but setting up an was 鈥渋n the works already,鈥澨鼳rmitage said.
鈥淲e had to pivot immediately when we closed and we knew it was crucial to get [an online store] together and get something up,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e just been building it incrementally, each week in three different bursts we add new products and offerings.鈥�
Since moving completely online, Armitage noticed that,听with the online store, certain plants were selling better than they did in person.
鈥淭here have been some items that we love and we鈥檝e had for a while in our store that haven鈥檛 been real great sellers. Having the opportunity to write a nice description and explain a little bit more about the item 鈥� where in the store there鈥檚 really no space or opportunity for description unless someone asks about it,鈥� she said.
With the online store, Armitage offered听curbside pick-up for those near the Cedar Rapids location. Since many customers from Iowa City continued to order, she began making a trip over every week to hand-deliver听items to customers' doorsteps.
To ensure she was taking听the most efficient route, she organiezed听the addresses of where orders needed to go by plugging them into Google Maps. She typically听spent about four to five hours making deliveries across Iowa City.
鈥淚 call the recipient that I鈥檓 outside and we鈥檙e just trying to be as safe as possible,鈥� Armitage said. 鈥淚 tell them that we are doing a no-contact delivery and that I am going to set it on their porch or anywhere they specify and stay 6-feet apart.鈥�
From a pastime to a business
After many schools moved听to remote teaching, students found themselves with an abundance of time. Liberty High School senior Natalie Cargin found herself building a business.
Cargin began making homemade jewelry and selling pieces with supplies she bought off Amazon.
鈥淚 wanted to find these earrings that were stars on little hoops, so I kept looking and I couldn鈥檛 find any that were a good price or anything. So听I just decided to make some on my own,鈥� Cargin said. 鈥淚 was like, 鈥楳aybe some other people will want some too.鈥� So I made an Etsy shop and that鈥檚 how this all started.鈥�
As of April, Cargin had logged over 100 orders since launching her . A lot of orders come in from local supporters, but she'd also seen her business expand.
鈥淎 lot of people who order from me follow me on and most of them are people I know, but I鈥檝e actually had people from other states鈥撯�搇ike today, I had one from California,鈥� Cargin said.
Making jewelry helped Cargin fill the long hours during quarantine.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been pretty boring. This is the only thing that鈥檚 been keeping me busy,鈥� Cargin said.
In the future, Cargin wants to expand her products to include a bigger variety than jewelry. She is currently working on embroidering sweatshirts.
Not alone
Ivy Towler, , had to take a step back from shooting portrait sessions.
鈥淭hat in-person part, which is a really huge part of photography, is not there. It feels like a disservice to my clients because I feel like I鈥檓 missing some of that connection. I didn鈥檛 want to shoot a lot now because I didn鈥檛 want to give people less than stellar service,鈥� Towler said.
Towler began scheduling Zoom meetings with future clients and taking time to work on other projects for her business, like updating her website. She also听started taking portraits of herself with her phone.
鈥淚 have body issues. Just like everyone else, I have pieces of me that I don鈥檛 like and that I don鈥檛 think are socially acceptable, pretty or sexy,鈥� Towler said. 鈥淲e all have those things that we don鈥檛 like. My most recent photography in the house has been a more self-discovery, self-acceptance and self-love kind of project.鈥�
Towler, who worked from home with her two dogs during the day before the outbreak of COVID-19, began sharing听her workspace with her four children and husband.
鈥淚 am enjoying not being busy. I am enjoying hanging out with my family, taking care of my family and making more recipes,鈥� Towler said.
With all the craziness, Towler found her family doing more things together like going on nightly walks with their dogs and having more meals together.
While taking a slower approach to her business, she looked at the positives of being in self-quarantine.
鈥淚 do not need to be busy to be happy. I think that鈥檚 the greatest lesson in this. I think I knew it, and I was going that direction because my business had this huge spike and I was super busy and shooting all the time and there was nothing left for me or my family when I was done,鈥� Towler said. 鈥淚 need to have my cup full, so I can give back to my family, so I can do better for my clients.鈥�
A common threat
As businesses look towards the future, said they were very concerned about a possible second wave of COVID-19 and its longterm impact on their businesses.
In the meantime, businesses听looked听to loans and grants to help them through the rough patch.
鈥淭he thing we鈥檝e been saying repeatedly over and over again is to connect with your banker, connect with any of your business advisors: your attorney, your accountant, and just fully understand your financial situation,鈥� said Jennifer Banta, vice president of advocacy and community development of .
Mick Fletcher, senior vice president of F&M Bank in Cedar Rapids, dealt with businesses applying for grants and loans during the hardship, as banks across the nation shifted their focus toward helping companies get federal and state loans.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been spending most of our time with a government-supported fund called听, so most banks have been working with that,鈥� Fletcher said.
PPP allows companies to pay their employees even if they aren鈥檛 currently working. Financially, businesses might be struggling with the impacts of COVID-19 for a while.
鈥淚 think a lot of companies won鈥檛 survive. There'll be a lot of industries that will be tough like restaurants and bars, things like that,鈥� Fletcher said. 鈥淚 think it鈥檒l be tough because even when
this is over, I don鈥檛 think they鈥檒l let you be within 6 feet of other people.鈥�
During this uncertain time, the Iowa City Area Business Partnership began hosting online听鈥溾�� for business owners and locals to learn about the impacts of COVID-19 and how to handle them.
鈥淢uch like Boulder, we鈥檙e a chamber of commerce and we鈥檙e a part of a network of university towns' economic development people,鈥� Banta said. 鈥淲e are all worried about the same thing as a college town. If the students don鈥檛 come back in the fall, if the Hawkeyes don鈥檛 play football, our economy is going to suffer and it鈥檚 really going to impact our whole community."
Even with all of the impacts on the economy, business owners continued looking forward toward getting back into a normal routine.
鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to鈥� see how many people really miss you, because that clich茅鈥撯�撯�榶ou don鈥檛 miss something until it鈥檚 gone鈥欌�撯�搚ou really don鈥檛,鈥� Ford said.
"Iowa City, Iowa" photo by on