Store News Update: COVID-19 (Monday 3/16/2020)

RE: COVID-19 Update - Dave’s will be closed for approximately 2 weeks (March 15th - 28th)

Most Monday mornings at Dave’s are filled with things to do, orders to catch up on, and a usual rush of customers getting their last minute things before they fly home. Obviously this Monday is not your typical Monday. The last time we were closed for any extended period of time was Superstorm Sandy and that was due to power failure, transit shutdown and disaster recovery efforts around the city. However, this time will be a lot different. Every major public building will be shut down, and every responsible business should be shut down as well. 

No one knows what the result of the COVID-19 pandemic will be, and no one knows where the stopping point is. We stated that we would be closed for two weeks, but that number doesn’t mean anything if this virus isn’t contained in some way, shape or form by then. 

Two weeks seems like an eternity in our business world; especially when the staff cannot work remotely and we cannot serve our customers properly. This doesn’t even take into account the finances of being closed for an extended period of time. As a small business, we have limited resources and we do not want to leverage our future, but we are not ready to close. Here are a few of the steps we have taken to support our staff and business

1. We are paying all of our employees their average weekly wage for the next two weeks in full
2. We are lowering free shipping threshold (from $60 to $25)  on our website so that those who need clothes can still purchase and not have to pay for shipping
3. We are going to work with vendors, our landlord, and our partners to pay our most pressing bills early, and ask for extension on payment for our other bills
4. We will take this time to design and create new Dave’s products
5. We will work on finding ways to support our customers better (more on this later)

Above all in this time of unrest we want our friends and family to be safe and healthy (people over profits, always). We will continued to update through our blog, social media and website. Below is the official note that we had posted yesterday:

March 15, 2020

To our friends and neighbors who always support us, we want you to know that during this COVID-19 pandemic:

Effective March 15th we will be closing our store for approximately 2 weeks (until March 29th) while we urge our staff and customers to take the utmost care of themselves and their families. We will continually monitor the updated news and recommendations of the CDC to determine when to re-open.

If you would like to place orders through our website, we will be shipping on a modified schedule. Thank you for your care and concern.

Adam

Dave’s New York