Things looking up for local business

It's been a long 11 months since the pandemic has taken over our lives. Especially for the mom and pop shops and family-run businesses. One of those businesses is Tom and Jake's Glass Bar on Main Street in Norwalk. It has been a tough 11 months, beginning with a complete shut-down, then a curfew, and a $500 fine from the state for after-hour sales. But when Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine lifted the curfew last Thursday, that meant the bar could remain open until 2:30 a.m. And for the Glass Bar, most of its business is from 10 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. "It was a pretty good weekend," said Sean Berry, whose family owns the bar. "We had apretty good night Saturday and Friday as well. "I don't know if it was as much more traffic but people stayed later. We are hoping for a good weekend on St. Patrick's Day. We are hoping it gives people more of a reason to go out." The shut-down came right before St. Patrick's Day last year — one of the biggest days for a bar. "That's why we are targeting St. Patrick's Day this year," Berry said. "We are trying to double up because we missed it last year. "The two months we were completely shut down a lot of things bounced around in our heads. Will we ever open again? Our employees were able to go on unemployment. Will they come back? We lost one employee because he did not want to come back because of his family. "We went from three employees to two. We completely understand it. It changes things for everybody. Who knew how long we we going to be shut down? What about our inventory? It was that way for a lot of businesses. The governor did not give us any direction. "As soon as the curfew was instituted everything just dropped. It took a couple of months for people to adjust." Berry's mother, Lucy, has stepped back from bartending to let others have more hours. "The heart of our business is our great employees and we wanted to keep them busy," Berry said. "Mom sacrificed her time." How did the curfew affect the business? "At first I thought we were going to be done but people adjusted," Berry said. "We never faced this before. If they do another curfew there will be a lot of mad people but I think they will adjust." As bad as things got, it could have been worse, Berry said. "How many people lost businesses that was their lives," he said. "They ended up closing their doors. It wasn't a human life but it was a life of the family. We got through it but a lot of businesses didn't." Berry said the business has two permanent employees and "We have an individual who is coming in just to fill in so the girls can take some time for their family." All of this snow piling up everywhere certainly isn't helping our business, which only makes the thoughts of spring and warm weather that much more appealing. "Good weather really helped us this fall," Berry said. "We extended our time on the back patio. People feel better outside. We ended up putting a tent up outside. My brother (Dean) and I are already talking about opening the patio this spring. If that is what people want to do that is an option we are willing to give them. "We hope people come out and support local businesses. The servers have been hit really hard and if you can tip them a little better it would really be appreciated. We know our people appreciate it." Joe Centers is Reflector managing editor. He can be reached at jcenters@norwalkreflector.com.