How Valley businesses are evolving to cope with COVID-19
For some Valley businesses, reinventing themselves and hustling hard has paid off.
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- As more local cities ease up on restrictions and allow more retail businesses to open, many are rebuilding websites to online shopping and curbside pick-up.
Some are taking extra steps by fogging their offices to kill germs.
Marketing clothes at Revival 23 has completely changed with storefront shopping no longer an option.
Styling ideas arent for walk-in customers anymore.
Instead, for a strong social media and online presence, that was a new but necessary change for owner Teresa Pries.
"We made some videos to send out to our customers. We've reached out to them - anything we can do to keep that connection going, to stay relevant in their lives and be there for them," says Pries.
Staying relevant was made possible by the help of her daughter, a Fresno State student public relations major who transformed the business to be fully functional online. Replacing face to face sales made them find a new way to connect with customers.
"We've done FaceTime, styling sessions, and little things like that. We've done little IGTVs which we've never done before, we had to figure out how to do those," says Alexis Darrow.
The business moved their inventory from the Fresno and Kingsburg locations to the Clovis store, where curbside pick-up is available.
Miles away, at State Farm Insurance, a cleansing fog is filling the air.
"We Clorox wipe our office and clean the best that we can, but ultimately, I knew this was a job for the professionals," says Antonio Fabila.
A hospital-grade cleaner that covers even the smallest spaces is provided by the two-step sanitation system.
"We've been getting calls like crazy from not just residential, but commercial businesses that are wanting to provide a safe environment," says Jake Fisher from My Pure Environment.
Protecting businesses in another way is what Senator Andreas Borgeas is working on at the state level.
"What we're proposing is the governor create immunities for employers and employees through executive order and through legislative action that would allow individuals to be exempt from COVID-19 related lawsuits," he says.
Borgeas plans to add the language to help retail and commercial businesses from suffering any more financial losses.
For businesses like Revival 23, reinventing themselves and hustling hard has paid off.
For more news coverage on the coronavirus and COVID-19 go to ABC30.com/coronavirus
