Local thrift store in Laramie, NU2U has been providing a fun alternative to finding clothes since 2004 but have been challenged recently by the COVID-19 Pandemic.
“Early on sales kind of dropped,” Owner of NU2U and NU2U Sports, Rob Harder said in an interview. “We saw a wide variety of people dwindle to where it was pretty much folks who weren’t taking it seriously.”
Even though state regulations weren’t very pressing on the business, they decided to close in late March. Harder said they took that time to rethink some of their business approaches and began working on projects they’ve wanted to work on for some time.
The push to close the store wasn’t only based on safety, rather Harder explained it was partially “shaming on social media and people calling the store” asking them to close.
The most extreme case was a single individual calling the City of Laramie asking to have them inspected and make sure they were following social distancing guidelines.
Outside of the few negative experiences, Harder said that the community has been great. He emphasized that it has taken some time to get back into things because a lot of people didn’t know they reopened when they did.
“Our customers have been great, they’ve been very respectful of others and have been very understanding,” he said.
Business didn’t start to pick up until mid-May around the time the state allowed restaurants and bars to begin reopening. Even though sales are far behind what they were last summer, Harder says they’ve been consistent through the week.
“The trends are much more sporadic now,” he said. “It’s a lot more difficult to know when we’ll be busy and we’ll not.”
Friday through Saturday was the hot time for business but has changed. Harder believes it’s because “most folks expect that we’ll be too busy on a Saturday to social distance.” He explains that weekdays are now much busier than they used to be.
The business also advertised a different way to shop that was heavily supported but didn’t actually get used. Harder set up a private shopper time for those who might need it, meaning they could come into the store before or after store hours.
“It was weird, it got a lot of positive feedback on social media, but no one actually did it,” he said.
Once the store reopened, they didn’t take consignment and wouldn’t for some time. Harder didn’t want to take new clothes until he did his own research on COVID-19 and its interaction with clothing.
“We’ve been quarantining bags and making sure folks bring clothes in clean,” he said. “We want them clean anyways but now we’re double checking because not everyone is good about it.”
Harder has found in his research online that COVID-19 can stick to clothes for approximately two hours so he quarantines all consignments for two days. This ensures that if there was a chance of being infected, it is now gone.
NU2U Sports on the other hand has been doing much better than the main storefront. Since people are trying to get outside and maintain social distancing, outdoor gear is being bought more quickly than everyday clothes.
The biggest issue the second storefront has had is maintain supplies. While team-based items aren’t being bought due to the lack of social distancing, individual sports items are becoming scarce.
“Outdoor sports like camping, cycling, fishing are doing very well,” Harder explained.
Harder knows that everyone has been processing current events differently, but he says, “remember that we’re a community and we’re going to get through this as a community, together.”
He said that COVID-19 is going to change how we act in public and how some businesses operate. He suggests that everyone “stay open minded, work hard and be nice to people.”
