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Businesses take steps to stop coronavirus
KGW-TV Portland
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When COVID-19 was detected for the first time in Oregon, small business owner David Gadlin decided to do something about it.

He closed up shop temporarily.

"When I decided to close on Saturday, in my mind it was at least 50-50 that I was going to open on Tuesday. Tuesday came around and I'm not opening. I don't think I'll open tomorrow, probably not the next day. We'll see."

Gadlin runs Study of Sweets, a small chocolate retail shop with over 250 chocolate bars, about 100 vegan options, candied pretzels, truffles and bon-bons. He says closing up was made for his employee's and customer's safety.

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"A decent amount of my regular customers are elderly and some of my staff has elderly in their households. For me, I'd rather just err on the side of caution, sit back for a few days. Wait and see and focus on other parts of the business."

His other parts of his business are mainly online, in fact Gadlin says Study of Sweets is only about 5% of his total business and he calls that generous.

"Business isn't stopping, just a portion of what we do is putting a stop for a little bit."

GET THE LATEST UPDATES ON THE CORONAVIRUS 

During this shutdown, his employees are still getting paid and working from home. 

"I'm using this as an opportunity also to see how productive my employees can be from home. Working on outreach and sales and wholesale accounts and finishing the website and we're launching a couple of new businesses as we speak."

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At Donut Palace off Southwest 185th in Portland, owner Safou Atwi wiped down doors, tables and chairs in an effort to sanitize any germs left behind by customers.

"We get so many customers, kids, families mostly over the weekend. So we have to protect our customers, ourselves and our community," Atwi said.

On the front door of his shop is a hand-written sign asking any customer that has visited or been around anyone that has visited a country known to have a coronavirus outbreak in the last month to stay away.

a close up of text on a white surface © Provided by KGW-TV Portland

"We're not pushing customers away. We're trying to be safe," he said.

Atwi understands this might be an overreaction, but says it's about keeping his family, customers and employees safe.

"If everybody takes the proper measure, you could reduce it," he said.

He's even taken measures to bleach dollar bills and won't touch them with his own hands, instead grabbing them with tongs and dipping them into bleach before washing and drying them.

"We don't want to get it, because if we get it, we're gonna give it to other people."

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