East Cobb small businesses struggle Archives

East Cobb small businesses struggle

Government-ordered shutdowns throughout Georgia at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic were especially devastating for small- and family-owned businesses, many of which did not survive.

Big-box retailers and supermarkets were allowed to stay open, as was the Sprayberry Bottle Shop on Sandy Plains Road. For several weeks, the package store provided service in a curbside pickup format only, before allowing customers to shop inside.

Those able to stay open still had to scramble with a major drop in business. For those fully closed by Gov. Brian Kemp’s initial emergency order—especially restaurants—the closures were extinction-type events.

Even for Waffle House. The manager of the restaurant on Sandy Plains Road, just up the street from the Sprayberry Bottle Shop, told us in April she and two others were working to provide take-out orders and “doing everything we can to keep our doors open.”

Some relief appeared for small business owners during the spring, after Congress provided stimulus assistance through the Paycheck Protection Program.

The Cobb Board of Commissioners approved spending $50 million of its allotted $132 million in federal CARES Act funding to provide loans to more than 3,000 small businesses in the county, along similar lines as PPP.

In early May, Frenchie’s Modern Nail Care at the Shallowford Falls Shopping Center was planning to reopen following the easing of Kemp’s order. Salon owner Rhoda Gunnigle told us at the time she needed to restart her business as soon as possible, after implementing safety protocols.

“How can you wait while while expenses pile up? With the rent due, I didn’t feel I had much of a choice.”

Gunnigle had just received her PPP loan when her salon reopened, but she couldn’t get enough customers to keep her business afloat. Frenchie’s closed in July, and another nail salon has opened in the same space.

It wasn’t until June that a number of East Cobb restaurants reopened for in-dining service. Seed and Drift had improvised takeout before that. But the dining rooms at many restaurants remain far below capacity due to social-distancing measures.

A long-standing East Cobb restaurant closed its doors for good in early December, unable to recover from the shutdowns.

Kouzina Christos, which previously operated as Christos Restaurant, served up its final grinders, pizzas and gyros in the Terrell Mill Village Shopping Center, closed to where the Greek immigrant family first opened in 1979.

Owner Christos Giannes said he couldn’t negotiate revised terms with his landlord, and was upset by what he called a “flaccid and shortsighted response from local, state and national sources for support to buttress businesses who’s loss will negatively affect business viability, employees, their families, the community, the schools is laughable.

“The losses to the foundation, the fabric that buttress our communities will be felt for many years.”

At Nancy’s Salon in East Cobb, owner Qamar Hisamuddin also said her business has been halved due to safety protocols. Only three of the six chairs in her salon at Woodlawn Commons are available at any given time.

She remains hopeful for a better 2021, but admitted the eight weeks she was closed took an enormous toll.