Franklin boutique shops work to make shopping safe again

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — For many businesses across Tennessee, Wednesday was the first day they’ve opened their doors in five weeks, but they're doing so with safety measures in place.

In nearly every business that has reopened, you’ll see people wearing masks, but that’s just the start at these boutique stores. Many are surfing the web for the most highly recommended cleaning solutions, and making social distancing priority number one.

Boutique shops have a reputation of giving customers a more intimate shopping experience which is why stores like these, are in somewhat of a balancing act.

At Stacey Rhodes Boutique, they’re getting used to the idea of no longer helping customers carry clothes, or even the occasional zipper.

These days they’ve created hand sanitizing stations throughout the store and built a plastic barrier at check out.

“That was kind of hard finding out everything we needed to know in advance, but we tried to get as much of it done and in place and we actually have. So we’re excited about that,” said Stacey Rhodes

Stacey says between their online sales and curbside pickup, they’ve managed to stay afloat for these five weeks, but nothing compares to the face-to-face connections she misses most.

“First of all, I miss the hugs and I miss the smiles, because when you’re wearing these masks we don’t see that,” said Rhodes.

Just around the corner and also on Franklin Road, Salem Emamalie says he’s been at Brentwood Jewelry for more than 50 years, but today felt like opening for the first time.

With jewelry, Salem says everything is generally very hands-on, but he like everyone else opening will make the adjustments necessary to keep everyone safe.

“There’s a lot of fear out there and people need to feel safe wherever they go so we want to make our environment very safe. So what we’ve done; we keep our space. We wear our masks if they feel better. We keep our distance also - they want things outside, we take it to them. Whatever they need to feel comfortable, we can accommodate them, said Emamalie.

Every night Salem has lit the outside of his store with red, white and blue lights.

As he puts it, to remind us all that sooner or later America needs to turn the lights back on and get back to work - of course, with safety in mind.