Facing short supply and a shutdown, COVID taught this small Columbus business a few lessons
Amy Cook quietly browses the light and airy Two Sisters Gallery.
Framed artwork lines the walls, a floral armchair sits near the front door and white tables are spaced throughout the store holding jewelry, coffee mugs and other odds and ends.
A wall of picture frame samples of every color and style accents the back of the store near the cash register, where owner Frances Malone, wearing an orange and white striped apron, politely excuses herself to assist Cook.
Cook is here to pick up a diploma frame for her daughter who has just graduated college. Malone completed a rush job on the frame, ensuring Cook has it in time for her trip to North Carolina to visit her daughter.
When choosing where to go for the project, Cook was happy to choose a local business. Shopping in public is much more enjoyable now than it was last year, she said, during the height of social distancing protocols. But she worries about the implications of the spread of the Delta variant.
“I feel like we’ve all become a bit lax,” Cook said. “But I understand it’s coming back in full force. So, I think now I have to step back and reconsider what I am doing even though I’m fully vaccinated.”
The COVID-19 pandemic created challenges businesses across Columbus have had to overcome, and between problems with suppliers and implementing social distancing protocols, Two Sisters Gallery was no different.
Malone opened the midtown store with her sister Lucile Flournoy in 1997. The gallery specializes in custom framing, original fine art and giftware. Malone said framing makes up the bulk of their business, and this specialty was what helped the shop survive during the COVID-19 recession.
In spring of 2020, it quickly became clear that people were not going out shopping, and even less so during the shutdown, Malone said. To make matters worse, the gallery’s suppliers, many of whom are located in other states, were also having problems due to local and state shutdowns in their regions.
“One of the main vendors shut down their New York warehouse, which stopped all moulding coming from New York to their Atlanta warehouse,” Malone said. “It left the Atlanta warehouse as being the only one open for the whole country for all of their customers.”
The Atlanta warehouse was working harder and running out of materials faster, she said. This meant the gallery had to order everything they thought they would need for the jobs they had in hand, before closing as well.
During the shutdown, staff members did come in to do some work, but the gallery remained closed to customers.
“It didn’t matter,” Malone said. “Because nobody was going anywhere.”
When the shop reopened in May for appointment-only services, she said a number of her customers had framing they wanted done because they were sick of what was on the walls at home.
Customers brought in old photographs, paintings with frames they hated or things they had been meaning to frame for some time, Malone said. Appointments helped the gallery avoid spreading COVID-19 since people didn’t have to wait in the small space.
The gallery eventually reopened with limited hours. They were flexible with their customers, meeting them out in the parking lot to get the artworks and discuss services if they were uncomfortable with entering a business.
Malone said they kept the store clean and required masks.
“I still don’t much like having a bunch of people in here waiting,” she said. “But that doesn’t often happen, so we’re not as worried about that. We don’t have a high-traffic, crowded space.”
Although they no longer had foot traffic or customers browsing the pieces of art, jewelry and tokens around the shop, there was still a clear demand for their services.
Malone’s business was able to get a Paycheck Protection Program loan in the first round. She credits her accountant for securing it because they were quickly able to gather the items needed to apply for the loan.
The money went towards paying a part-time employee during the pandemic, which was supplemented by unemployment funds.
The gallery recently loosened COVID-19 restrictions, however the spread of the Delta variant has raised the possibility of implementing a mask policy, Malone said.
The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention updated their guidelines recommending that fully vaccinated individuals in areas with high community transmission should return to wearing masks in public indoor spaces.
“We hope that people who are unvaccinated will wear masks,” Malone said. “I think if they want all businesses to open fully — if they want everything to get back to normal — it can’t be done while we’ve still got people going into the hospital.”
This story was originally published August 3, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
