COLMA, Calif. (KRON) – San Mateo County is now in stage two of reopening their local economy.
A small business owner says she is happy this day is finally here.
After being closed for two-months, Lester’s Flower Shop reopened in the city of Colma.
“We’re excited to be back,” Imelda Gutierrez said.
On Monday, San Mateo County officially moved into alignment with the state of California regarding early Phase 2 of the shelter-in-place order, expanding the list of businesses allowed to reopen to include florists.
“We are happy that at least we are able to make deliveries for them and then they can call us. We can take their orders and run them to their cars,” Gutierrez said.
She says this is the first time in over 20-years that the flower shop was closed for an extended period.
“It was shocking because we didn’t know what to expect. We didn’t know if it was just going to be just a few days,” Gutierrez said.
She owns the flower shop with her husband. They have two long time employees that they have not seen since the shop has been closed.
“I have a pretty close relationship with them. You know we can’t imagine not seeing each other for this long,” Gutierrez said.
She says the flower shop will undergo some modifications to make sure it is in compliance with the health order before bringing her employees back to work inside this relatively small space.
But make no mistake about it, she is planning on Lester’s Flower Shop being around for another 20-years despite the impact of COVID-19 on her business.
“All large events, weddings have been cancelled so we are hoping that the majority of those events will happen again at some point whether it’s fall or winter or next year but we think that we’re going to be okay,” Gutierrez said.
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