SANFORD, Fla. – For the first time, a popular stretch of downtown Sanford will allow shoppers to walk around with open containers on Saturday, Nov. 28 from 2 p.m. to midnight.
It’s all part of a new push to entice customers to come back and safely shop this weekend.
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Christina Hollerbach serves as the President of Sanford Main Street and is also the CEO of Hollerbach’s Willow Street Cafe on East 1st Street.
“We really wanted to give people lots of room to spread out to really social distance and shop on the sidewalk,” she said.
On Halloween, downtown Orlando enacted a similar setup, that ended up getting criticized for overcrowding.
“We probably won’t be doing that again,” Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said shortly thereafter.
Hollerbach said they plan to learn from Orlando’s mistake.
“It’s a huge footprint, a lot of rules and signs and we want people to wear masks when they’re outside, stay within their own groups,” she said. “We’re just giving people lots of space to breath and explore our town safely.”
Jeanine Taylor owns a folk-art gallery downtown, and admits she’s enforced the rules for customers coming inside.
“Definitely we need the help, but we don’t want anybody getting sick,” she said.
Since the pandemic began, Jeanine Taylor Folk Art saw a 35% drop in business.
“We were closed for two months and it’s just hard catching up,” Taylor added. “We’re doing everything we can to let them know we’re here and we’re safe.”
To learn more about Sanford’s Small Business Saturday, click here.