By Kathleen Furore
If anyone wonders how seriously Costumes ETC in Atlanta, Georgia is taking safety as it reopens, one sentence sums it up.
Even the costumes are quarantined!
And that goes for costumes that have been rented and those that only have been tried on and not taken out of the shop, too.
“We have a separate room in an isolated area of the store where we put any returned rental costumes for three days,” reports Scott Bellomy, general manager of this NCA-member shop owned by Jane Powell. “And anything that’s just been tried on, we put on a separate rack for three days in a separate isolated area behind each dressing room.”
The safety protocols don’t stop there. After each costume comes out of quarantine, it’s sprayed with Lysol as an extra sanitizing step.
Taking those thorough safety steps is important—even though it means taking costumes off the floor, rendering them temporarily out of stock.
To counter that potential impact on sales, Bellomy says customers are told that if they’re not legitimately interested in a costume, staff would prefer that they not to try it on. “We ask, ‘Is this really part of the look you want?’ and explain that we will have to take any costume they try on off the floor [if they don’t buy or rent it], which potentially limits sales.”
July Brings a Bright Spot
Since it re-opened in early June, the shop has been open by appointment only, due in large part to the fact it’s such a big space with just two employees on the floor. “It’s hard to keep your eyes on everything with a skeleton crew,” Bellomy says. That doesn’t mean someone who drops by unannounced isn’t welcomed in—but masks are required. “We keep the front door locked, but we will let someone in [without an appointment]—we just can’t have more than five customers in the store at one time,” he adds.
The approach Costumes ETC has taken appears to be working. Customers, Bellomy says, are slowly starting to return. “They’re starting to shoot hip hop videos here, the Lips drag bar is opening, and the tv and film industries will start shooting soon,” Bellomy says. “Some of our stylists are already getting booked.”
In fact, Bellomy reports that the shop had “a really good day” on July 7. “Sales were comparable to last year!” he says. “Even though overall sales are still down 50 to 75 percent, it was a bright spot and we’re constantly looking for those.”
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