‘It’s a start’ is about the nicest thing you can say about shopping in the coronavirus era - The Dallas Morning News

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Texas earned no bragging rights on Friday.

The state that led the nation out of the Great Recession is now trying to help lead the U.S. economy out of a pandemic by being one of the first to open its stores, restaurants and malls. There was a tepid response from consumers but not from a lack of effort.

Retailers and shopping center managers have been working hard to try to respond to the short-notice lifting of the stay-at-home order by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday.

But they barely had enough time to create new procedures, write new language to put on signs, get the signs printed and posted, locate employees, hire them back and train them about stringent new procedures.

“It’s a start” was the nicest thing people could say about the first day in six weeks that almost 29 million Texans could go to the mall.

In the heart of Dallas, at NorthPark Center, considered one of the most successful and best-run malls in the U.S., about 2,800 shoppers showed up on Friday. That compares with a normal Friday when 70,000 shoppers come and go. Only about 20% of the stores were able to open by Friday — and none of the department stores.

“Light” is the way Grapevine Mills manager Joe Szymaszek described the mall’s crowd. At the destination mall for families, which has a large mix of entertainment options, about 50 of the mall’s 180 stores opened Friday. The Lego store was open but not Legoland. The Sea Life aquarium was open but not any of the hands-on touch screens.

In Collin County, at around 1 p.m., the parking lot at Allen Premium Outlets looked like 30 minutes past closing time. In Plano, Legacy West wasn’t busy, and Frisco’s Stonebriar Centre isn’t planning to open until Tuesday. Other malls also waited. Galleria Dallas opens on Monday.

Wrapped in caution tape, the sit-in dining area of the food court was closed Friday at Grapevine Mills mall. (Ryan Michalesko / AP)

Social distancing rules make a photo booth off limits at Grapevine Mills shopping mall.(Ryan Michalesko / AP)

In Fairview, the crowds were steady but thin at J.C. Penney as the Macy’s and Dillard’s in the same shopping center remained closed. The Penney store has been filling online orders for about a week and was staffed with employees who volunteered to work, said the store’s general manager, Jody McKnight.

The dressing rooms are closed at J.C. Penney and many stores. Employees explained to shoppers that items that don’t fit can be returned. Those returns will be tagged with dates and hung in a back room for 72 hours before being put back out on the floor. Jewelry counters are also getting extra precautions, with each item cleaned before and after a customer looks it over.

Shoppers lined up for the reopening of J.C. Penney on Friday in Fairview. (Ryan Michalesko / Staff Photographer)

The Dallas shoppers all seemed to be wearing masks, but not the ones in Collin County.

There were a couple dozen shoppers waiting for Grapevine Mills to open, Szymaszek said.

“It’s a start, and in the next 7 to 10 days more stores said they’ll be bringing employees back from their furloughs and get their inventory refreshed,” he said. “Saks Off 5th will reopen in a week. It’s a priority to start getting the stores open.”

At NorthPark, shoppers weren’t browsing. They were there to make a return or a specific purchase and heading home.

A couple of women were upset with the lack of stores that were open. Most of the stores open at NorthPark were designer stores that one shopper said she couldn’t afford. Stores open at the mall included Gucci, David Yurman, Dolce & Gabbana, Isabel Marant and Yves Saint Laurent. Anthropologie was one of the few stores open on the east side of the mall. The Apple store is expected to open by mid-May. Neiman Marcus will open for appointment-only shopping on Monday.

Some seats were marked off as closed to encourage social distancing at Grapevine Mills on Friday. (Ryan Michalesko / AP)

Benches were marked off limits to promote social distancing at NorthPark Center in Dallas. (Ryan Michalesko / Staff Photographer)

Ali Ahmed, 24, a software engineer who lives in Austin, has been quarantined in Dallas with his family. He was looking at the mall directory for Johnston & Murphy because he needs new shoes for his engagement party this weekend.

NorthPark opened “just in time for me,” Ahmed said. Once he got the shoes, he said, he was leaving.

Portia Ramos, 66, of McKinney purchased a house and moved in during the shutdown. She came to J.C. Penney in Fairview Friday to shop for a new bedspread and earlier went to Joann to buy fabric to make new pillows.

She had no hesitation shopping, she said. “I figured it’s the same as going to the grocery store, and there are always more people at the grocery store.”

There were also signs of pandemic-induced pent-up demand. Alfredo Martinez, 17, of Dallas said he’s been home a long time and hasn’t been spending any money.

“I haven’t shopped in a month or two,” he said. He wanted a Hugo Boss T-shirt he had seen online that said, “Hugo here,” he said as he motioned across his chest. “That’s my middle name.”

Carol Washington, 70, was walking out of Penney with a new blouse in the bag. “She’s the shopaholic,” she said, pointing to her sister. “She’s been waiting for a while for the stores to open.”

The tepid response from shoppers may be about new habits they’ve acquired in the last six weeks.

Texans have been shopping less in stores during the pandemic, and a majority agree with social distancing policies, according to a poll of 561 Texans taken April 1-6 by Prosper Insights & Analytics.

About 70% of those surveyed in Texas said they have shopped less in stores during the pandemic, and 38% said they were shopping more online.

Asked if the coronavirus experience will change their future shopping habits, only 17.4% disagreed with that statement. About a third didn’t agree or disagree, but 50.1% agree they would change their shopping behavior in the future.

Shoppers walked through NorthPark Center mall on Friday in Dallas.(Ryan Michalesko / Staff Photographer)

The unprecedented shutdown leaves the retail industry no choice but to work at the consumers’ pace.

“We decided to partially open for business because we feel we have an obligation to offer our tenants the options made available this week to serve their customers,” said Kristen Gibbins, NorthPark’s executive director of marketing and strategy.

The mall had two doors open so shoppers could be counted and told that they were required to wear face masks. While it didn’t have to send any shoppers away, the mall has decided to stay well within the 25% capacity limit recommended by officials.

“We will continue to comply with all necessary mandates and operate with the highest safety guidelines in mind,” Gibbins said.

For customers who feel more comfortable shopping online and driving up for curbside delivery, several stores will likely continue that indefinitely, Gibbins said. Williams-Sonoma was one of the busiest stores in the mall Friday even though it was still closed to shoppers.

Richard Eiseman of Eiseman Jewels expanded his business in March with e-commerce. He said combining online with the NorthPark store has been a win. By 2 p.m. on Friday, the store had completed six transactions. He has personally made customer deliveries and was having some fun with store signs next to the jewel cases promoting social distancing: “You are a Gem! Help us keep you safe. Please stand here.”

Twitter: @MariaHalkias

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