OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — With a plan now in place, businesses in Kansas are preparing plans to reopen.
"Whether it is a week away, or two weeks away or a month away, it's now time for us to say, 'Hey, we're going to be reopening,'" Deb Clem-Buckert, owner of Plato's Closet Overland Park, said.
It's a shift in mindset for ownership at Plato's Closet Overland Park, 11608 W. 135th St., which has been conducting business solely online for the last month — a first.
Clem-Buckert is eager to greet customers again.
"We're trying to comply with absolutely everything that the governor says to do and also Johnson County," she said. "We want to keep people safe."
When the clothing resale shop does open, it will have plenty masks for employees and sanitizer for all.
Currently, they are meeting with sellers by appointment-only and shoppers may be asked to register when they step inside in the event contact tracing becomes necessary.
"If we go to something in Kansas like they did in Kansas City, Missouri, where you have to sign in if you have to be in here for more than 10 minutes, we’ll have them sign into our online system, like they'd be selling us clothes," Clem-Buckert said. "Then, all we would have to do is print something out if there was an outbreak."
Plato's Closet Overland Park also is thinking of creative ways to limit capacity.
"We may have to go to a lottery system," Clem-Buckert said. "If you want to walk into the store on the day we go to $1 for a clearance section, you may have to get a number. We may have to do some kind of contest and have everybody go online."
As health and government leaders announce a phased lifting of restrictions, business owners are paying close attention.
At My Best Friend's Closet in Shawnee, store owner Taylor Clark is requiring employees to wear masks and will ask the same from her customers.
"Then, we'll also ask our consignors to cover their clothing after they've washed it at home, so when it is being brought in that it's just a little extra step to have it clean and sanitized," Clark said
She is adjusting on the fly like so many others during this unprecedented time.
"I think it’s part of being a responsible member of a community that you follow what they tell you to do," Clem-Buckert said.
Under Gov. Laura Kelly's plan, which she announced Thursday during an address to the state, businesses may begin to reopen Monday after the statewide stay-at-home order is allowed to expire.
However, the Johnson County Department of Health and Environment announced earlier Thursday that it was extending its stay-at-home order an extra week, through May 9, so the earliest retail shops there can open is May 10.