Music stores, bookstores, office supply stores, art supply stores, and toy stores that sell things like puzzles and games for child enrichment are examples of nonessential businesses eligible to reopen as soon as May 18 if they apply for a waiver from D.C.
The Education and Academic Retail Shops (EARS) program is a pilot offered by the District so it can learn about how to allow more businesses to reopen safely.
With D.C. currently scheduled to move into its first phase of reopening June 8, the pilot will be available for about three weeks, if businesses complete a waiver application through the EARS program website.
The stores must be based in the District and independently owned and operated to be eligible. The application requires that businesses provide an operation plan that will vigilant sanitization measures and ensure social distancing or contactless exchange.
As of Sunday, May 17, four businesses had already been approved:
- Lost City Bookstores, 2467 18th St. NW
- Middle C Music, 4530 Wisconsin Ave. NW
- Child’s Play Toys and Books, 5536 Connecticut Ave. NW
- Politics and Prose (three locations: 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW; 70 District Square SW; and 1270 5th St. NE
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Myrna Sislen is the owner of Middle C Music, which has been closed since March 17. In the last two weeks, she has partnered with a restaurant nearby so they can pick up items they’ve ordered there.
The music teachers are continuing to work with students remotely, but one-third of her business has suffered, since the store is closed.
“It [the virus] has impacted every way we do business,” Sislen said. “What we’ve had to do is make a shift, and it has been working.”
She has been delivering and mailing items to customers so they can continue playing their instruments, including reeds for woodwinds and strings for violins and guitars.
“If you don’t have those things, you’re not able to make the music you need to make in order to keep your sanity,” Sislen said. “It’s been very difficult. I never thought it would be so hard to run a business that’s closed.”
She’s looking forward to the pilot program, however. Customers will be able to drop off items and come back later to pick them up when it’s convenient for them. Her hours will be longer, and her store will be open on Saturday, as well.
“We’ll be masked, we will have gloves, it will be contactless,” she said. “The primary concern is to be safe.”
With a PPP loan, Sislen has been able to pay her staff, as well, so she has people available to absorb what she hopes will be an increase in business.
Sislen said she will happily share her experience with the District so that other stores can eventually follow Middle C’s example.
One of the biggest adjustments, though, is that Sislen and her employees have to become virtual consultants for customers interested in buying instruments since they can’t come to the store to try them out.
“It’s a lot of back-and-forth and playing the instrument over the phone so [the customer] can hear it,” she said. “But people kind of trust us, and it’s real important to me that we place the right instrument with the right person, and so far, we’ve been OK.”
WTOP’s Mike Murillo contributed to this report.
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