CLINTON, Mo. – Cindy Wirsig still welcomes customers into her t-shirt shop across from the courthouse on Clinton’s main square, but don’t accuse her of not taking the coronavirus seriously.
“We were one of the first ones to have a case, so we started washing hands and social distancing and doing it early,” said Wirsig, owner of C Squared.
That early case of COVID-19, which claimed the life of Henry County Democratic Party Chairman Al Grimes, never prompted county officials or the governor of Missouri to order all non-essential businesses to shut their doors.
So it’s business as usual at Cummings Men’s Wear, which has been operating in this popular retirement community for 35 years.
“We try and be as safe as we can,” owner Jennifer Cummings said. “No one wants to get the virus, but we have to try and go on to.”
But there’s no escaping that business is slow. By some estimates it’s down more than 80%. Store owners worry that a lack of customers might force a shutdown even if the government won’t.
“There are no cars going by, nothing,” Cummings said. “People are just staying in.”
Cummings said some sales are completed curb side. She said people still have needs, like the family that purchased a suit last week for a funeral.
In other ways, Clinton is like its much larger neighbor Kansas City. Government buildings are closed to the public, even the police department. Restaurants are only serving to-go orders.
Some businesses have closed their doors, like the shop that Sarah Goth owns. She said staying open is just not worth the risk to her or her employees.
“It’s just the unknown and how quickly it can spread and how quickly it seems like people can get sick and die,” Goth said.
It’s that fear that’s keeping many home. But at least for now, life and business go on in Clinton as normal as possible.
