Contributed photo
Contributed photo
Geneseo Home Furnishings was the first downtown business to reopen during the COVID-19 outbreak, although its owner still lost another business due to Gov. J.B. Pritzker's economic shutdown.
"It couldn't have happened at a worse time," Tom Satterly told WQAD. "It really couldn't have, especially for small business like mine."
He said his store lost around $150,000 from the closure. Satterly owned a mattress store in town, which had to permanently go out of business.
"I'll no longer have (the mattress store), and thousands on thousands of dollars that I've invested in making that business is going to be lost," Satterly said. "If we didn't (open now), I would also lose this business as well."
Satterly told WQAD he is using safety precautions for his furnishing store, including only accepting customers with appointments, sanitizing surfaces regularly, and offering contactless curbside pickup and delivery services.
"Our economy here in the Quad Cities depends on people stepping up, being safe and shopping local," he said. "Unfortunately, the governor basically made the entire state pay for (the outbreak in) Chicago... It's just silly and ridiculous that some stores can have 250 people in them, but my store, and stores like mine, are considered a health hazard."
As of June 14, Illinois reported 131,871 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, including 6,289 deaths. Henry County, however, has had just 72 confirmed cases of COVID-19.
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