WOODLAND – Brock’s Bar & Grill saw standing-room-only crowds during its first three days in business. That was the spring of 2020, owner Polly Merwin recalled, right before the pandemic stopped everything.
Since then, selling meals by takeout and offering outdoor seating has not been easy.
“I’d spend 12 hours in the bar, lucky to get $100 in sales, just to keep my bills paid,” Merwin said.
She’s among the numerous bar and restaurant owners in southwest Washington who are reeling, yet again, after the region failed to meet state guidelines to start reopening.
On Thursday, Gov. Jay Inslee announced two regions — the Puget Sound, of King, Pierce and Snohomish counties; and the west, of Lewis, Thurston, Grays Harbor and Pacific counties — would enter phase two of reopening, which allows some indoor gatherings, entertainment venues and drinking and eating.
Regions must meet three out of four metrics around positive COVID-19 cases and hospital availability to advance. The Southwest region — Clark, Cowlitz, Klickitat, Skamania and Wahkiakum counties — only meets one.
Inslee also announced that re-evaluating each region will no longer occur every week, but every two weeks instead.
To bar and restaurant owners, the rule change makes the region’s shortfall more punishing. The soonest they can now expect to open is mid-February. If they miss that deadline, the wait stretches into March.
Anja O’Neil, owner of Trusty Brewing in Vancouver, said that tweak is already frustrating because it can strain relationships with employees who are ready to come back to work. She said workers have a right to know their schedules with advanced notice.
“How do you explain to an employee on a Friday, ‘Hey, we didn’t meet the metric. I will call you in two weeks, watch the news, we’ll do what we can.’ And then how do I explain when we don’t meet the metric — two weeks later – ‘I’m really sorry, please don’t come to work on Monday,’” O’Neil said.
Frustrations have already been simmering among the region’s hospitality industry. While some, like Merwin, are speaking out because they view the shutdown as unconstitutional, the vast majority of bars and restaurants say they are worried about their financial futures.
Vancouver restaurant Beaches has been a vocal critic of the state’s phased lockdowns, with its owner and managers arguing restaurants are safer than people gathering in small groups inside private homes.
“It feels like no one is listening to a voice of reason at this point,” said Ali Novinger, a manager at Beaches. “It’s a struggle to continue to fight every day when you feel like it’s going nowhere.”
In early January, lawmakers — led by Sen. John Braun, R-Kalama — pushed a bill that would have put businesses statewide into Phase 2.
The bill drew more than 1,600 people to a public hearing on Jan. 20, including O’Neil and Beaches owner Mark Mathias, to support the bill. However, the legislation gained little Democratic support and has stalled.
Meanwhile, the state department of Labor & Industries has issued hefty fines to businesses in the southern half of the state, such as Stuffy’s II Restaurant in Longview, Spiffy’s Restaurant and Bakery in Chehalis, and Farm Boy in Olympia.
The latter two — Spiffy’s and Farm Boy — will soon be eligible to partially reopen because they are located in the state’s West region.
Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, whose district encompasses coastal counties in both Cowlitz and Lewis counties said his constituents are facing different realities.
“The constituents of mine who are in the Phase 2 section, they’re happy to have some forward progress but they’re not satisfied,” he said. “And the people in the Phase 1 section are furious.”
