Businesses throughout the region are slowly starting to reopen, providing services that in some cases have not be available to Tri-State Area resident since the middle of March, when the region’s governors issued stay-at-home restrictions and ordered businesses that were deemed nonessential to close in response to the threat posed by COVID-19.

Govs. Mike DeWine of Ohio and Jim Justice of West Virginia have been loosening those restrictions during the past few weeks, and while things will not look like they did at the beginning of March, there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

“To say it was the craziest, most stressful eight weeks is an understatement,” Tricia Maple-Damewood, executive director of the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce, said of the shelter-in-place order.

But she added she has been impressed by many local businesses’ ability to adapt to changing circumstances.

“It was very cool to watch how creative they were,” Maple-Damewood said, noting restaurants and stores have added takeout windows, curbside pickup and delivery service. She noted outdoor seating has become a necessity that other eateries may adopt to increase their seating capacity.

Maple-Damewood found a growing number of businesses using social media to sell their wares. She noted Something Special by Sheila, a Steubenville boutique offering children’s, bath and other items, went as far as allowing customers to browse virtually through live social media.

Maple-Damewood said the use of social media was new territory for some business owners.

“It (the pandemic) really pushed people out of their comfort zones, to learn things they needed to know,” she said.

According to Brenda Mull, president of the Weirton Area Chamber of Commerce, it’s going to take a while for business to pick back up.

“I think businesses are opening slowly and cautiously,” she said.

Mull said people want to be able to feel comfortable when they are going out in public, and she said it is going to take time, and the community working together, before a sense of normalcy can be found.

“I think the community wants to be back in the restaurants, back in the stores,” Mull said. “We need to have commerce. We just do.”

One of the ways the chamber has been working to spread that message is a series of videos, featuring area businesses and posted on the chamber’s Facebook page.

Submitted by the businesses, the videos discuss their reopening plans, along with the measures being taken to protect employees and customers from COVID infection.

“We’re getting a variety, and they’re still coming,” Mull said, noting the chamber is not charging to post the videos.

While many restaurants have been operating on a carry-out or pick-up basis since March, other businesses have stayed open and operated under reduced hours. One of those is M&M True Value Hardware on Sunset Boulevard in Steubenville.

Scott Campbell, longtime owner of the hardware store, said the pandemic has had varying effects on area businesses.

“I have friends who reopening and friends who are closing,” he said, adding his and other hardware stores were deemed essential during the shelter-in-place order.

He added the reopening comes at a time when the store is usually busy, but the combination of people having time at home and receiving relief payments from the government helped to bring in customers earlier in the year.

“I think our paint sales were up a bit because more people realized they needed to paint their homes,” Campbell said.

“There also was an element of people wanting to support local businesses. There was a lot of conversation about that,” he added.

Campbell said he’s quite appreciative of the many who patronized his store during the lockdown and hopes they will continue to support all local businesses.

He noted many have found online purchases to be convenient but said they also are missing the personal customer service local businesses can offer.

“It’s a sad thing because America was founded on people pursuing business ventures,” Campbell said.

Debbie Puskarich, president of the Follansbee Chamber of Commerce, said many businesses in the city were fortunate because they deal in food or prescription medications and were deemed essential.

But there are some, such as dentists, hair salons and barber shops, that were forced to close because of the close contact that occurs between staff and clientele.

“I know for the owner of Crown of Gold, that was a really tough time for her. She had to close down and go through a whole set of rules when she reopened,” Puskarich said.

Puskarich said some small business owners are conflicted about whether to reopen yet because they care for family members who are at risk and are concerned about exposing themselves to COVID-19 when they return to work.

“Nobody has said we’re going to shut down. They’ve all said, we’re going to weather the storm,” she said.

“This year will be a completely different year for many businesses. We’ll get through this together, but it will be a completely different year altogether,” Puskarich said.

Puskarich noted Three Bridges restaurant used social media to post daily take-out specials during the shelter-in-place order and since restaurants have been authorized to slowly reopen, has benefited from an outdoor dining area.

Monica Rotellini-Meyers, who co-owns Moe’s on Main with her husband, Elmer “Moe” Meyers, said she was concerned because the consignment craft and gift shop was classified as nonessential.

“I didn’t take a loan to start the business and I didn’t want to have to get one to stay open,” she said.

But Rotellini-Meyers said the use of social media and adapting to changing needs have helped the business to stay afloat.

When a regular customer asked if they had face masks, she approached local crafters with sewing skills to produce masks in an assortment of colors and patterns.

“We did more business in April than we ever did, mostly because of the masks,” she said, adding the store also has added prepackaged Amish baked goods and more recently, produce originating from the Sugarcreek area.

Rotellini-Meyers said she has used social media since the store opened a few years ago, but she believes more people became aware of the business while they were ordered to remain home.