KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Nicole Galloway, the Democratic candidate for governor in Missouri, spent part of Friday during the campaign's home stretch at a Kansas City, Missouri, record store.
Galloway met with employees from Josey Records on Oak Street who were laid off when the store was shut down as part of the statewide stay-at-home order last spring.
Those employees are now back at work.
"We've been OK since we re-opened, but, when we were closed, it was just the manager working selling online," employee Laura Rice said.
Now, the store faces a new challenge trying to get customers in the door during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
With festivals canceled and music venues still shut down, Rice said there's less walk-up business.
Galloway went to Josey Records to highlight the problem.
"The only way we're going to be able to get our economy open again, get folks back to work, get our schools fully re-opened, is if we contain the spread of the virus," Galloway said.
To do it, her main solution is a statewide mask mandate, but Galloway said she hasn't ruled out another statewide stay-at-home order if she's elected and mounting COVID-19 cases necessitate it.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, who is the Republican candidate, has declined to require face masks in public places.
"I do not want to shut down," she said. "Fighting this virus should not mean shuttered businesses, taking away livelihoods and closed schools, but, if we continue down this current path with Gov. Parson, we do risk that."
When asked what would happen to the business if there was another shutdown, Rice said, "I don't know. It was definitely a struggle."
Galloway acknowledged its a concern weighing on the minds of many Missourians.
"There's still a lot of nervousness about what our economy is going to look like in the coming months because of the economic impacts of COVID," she said.
Galloway is also calling for more rapid testing in Missouri as a way to get a better handle on the pandemic.
She plans to return to the Kansas City area on Saturday and again Monday before Tuesday's general election.
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