PARKVILLE, Mo. — The door is open at Farm House Collection in Parkville, Missouri.
The door to the candle and decor store is open to make sure customers know it’s open for in-person shopping, but it’s also open so no customer has to touch the doorknob to get inside.
Leaving the door open is one of several changes Farm House Collection is taking to keep customers safe as Platte County lifts stay-at-home orders previously in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
New rules allowed non-essential retail stores in the county to open May 4. Parts of the county within Kansas City limits are following different rules laid out by the city.
“It felt normal, it felt like we were kind of restored in a way, I felt like our cup was filled back up simply seeing smiling faces down here,” said Kalynn Guffey, the store’s marketing and event manager.
Guffey listed all the changes the store is making, which include limiting the number of people inside the store to 10, including employees.
Customers can also book a private shopping session, where they are the only customers in the store for 30 minutes. Employees sanitize every item after a private shopping session. It is open for regular, walk-in shopping when there is not a private shopping session in progress.
Over the past 10 days, Guffey said people have been shopping in person, which gives her the confidence the store will return to pre-COVID ways.
“it restored our faith in humanity, I think. Because that first day we just cried, we cried so much because we were like what’s the future going to be,” Guffey said.
During stay-at-home orders, Farm House Collection revamped its website and saw online sales skyrocket. Guffey isn’t sure if those sales will continue as strongly now that in-person sales are back up and running.
We've created a Facebook group, We're Open Kansas City, where members of the community can post businesses serving their community.
