Although the owner of the Ohio Valley Mall did not know how many of the 80 stores would open for business this morning, the doors to the 40-plus-year-old facility were unlocked at 10 a.m. in accordance with orders issued by Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine.
Employees of the Ohio Valley, according to Anthony Cafaro of the Cafaro Co., will wear face covering and practice social distancing while performing their duties.
“We are very happy to return to a degree of normalcy beginning (today) at the Ohio Valley Mall. It really doesn’t matter if we are talking about an enclosed mall or any other kind of business, there’s no script, and that is why we have been paying very close attention to what Ohio state officials have been talking about throughout this crisis,” Cafaro explained. “By now, we know what has worked and what hasn’t worked in other areas of the country, so we are moving forward with that information on our minds.
“There exists no exact plan as far as what we needed to do in preparation for the re-opening of the Ohio Valley Mall, so we are being as careful as possible to keep everyone as safe as possible,” he said. “Now, there are guidelines and, of course, we will be adhering to all of those guidelines. Plus, our staff there is going to use a lot of common sense because the coronavirus is pretty much all we have heard about for the past two months, and that includes a lot of information about what precautions we all should be taking.”
Open and Still Closed
Cafaro was not positive how many of the retailers would re-open today during his Monday interview on The Watchdog (98.1 FM WKKX and 97.7 FM WVLY), but he confirmed that Boscovs will as would other eateries throughout the facility.
“It was easy before this situation for the shoppers to expect all of our stores to be open for business, but now, it’s all up to those individual companies as far as they approach re-opening their businesses at their different locations,” Cafaro explained. “It is very difficult for some of the larger chains to re-open because of the different guidelines that have been established by leaders of the states.
“We have had conversations with some of our retailers that have said that they can’t open up because their distribution facility is in another state and is not allowed to re-open yet,” he said. “That’s just one example, and there’s also the question whether or not you can open a number of stores, but everyone can still remain safe right now. I can tell you, though, that at the Ohio Valley Mall, we will have a number of stores that have re-opened today.”
Disinfected
An extensive scrub down, Cafaro confirmed, has taken place in all areas of the complex, and communication also has taken place with their corporations to make sure those officials understand Ohio’s requirements.
“We have made sure that our staff at the Ohio Valley Mall is completely aware of the protocol that has been established by the leaders of the state of Ohio,” Cafaro explained. “Face coverings, social distancing, and non-stop cleaning will be taking place all day and every day, but our patrons will not be able to do any sit-down dining at any of our restaurants, but the take-out services can continue.
“The sit-down dining, as of now, will not be permitted until May 21 as long as everything goes well with their first few steps that are being taken,” he said. “We are also making sure that our tenants are familiar with the guidelines established for the stores inside the Ohio Valley Mall because they are dealing with the same thing we are. We have shopping centers in many different states, and those guidelines are different in some ways in each of them, so we have wanted to make sure those companies understand what has to be done at the Ohio Valley Mall.”
More Than a Trickle
A mad rush of shoppers was not expected for this morning’s re-opening, and that is because people throughout the country are likely to remain determined not to become another number in the overall statistics. To date in the United States, nearly 1.4 million citizens have contracted COVID-19, including almost 25,000 in the state of Ohio and 1,400 in West Virginia. Nationwide, 82,000 deaths have been recorded with 1,360 taking place in the Buckeye State while 57 have passed away in the Mountain State.
“We do expect shoppers to return to the mall today because that is what we have seen at our other locations in states that allowed us to re-open our facilities last week, but there hasn’t been that surge of traffic. It’s been more than a trickle, but it’s not been like Black Friday,” Cafaro said. “And we are actually happy that these openings have not attracted those kids of crowds.
“Retailers and shoppers are being very cautious, and so are we, and that is why we have many procedures that have been put into place. The most important thing to us is that the patrons and the employees are as safe as possible,” he continued. “We don’t want to create problems for those folks, but instead we would prefer to be part of the solution that allows people to get out and shop and also allows the employees to return to their jobs.”
