FROM PAGE ONE
A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
Shopping:
Continued from Page A1
Despite doing well now,
she said in April sales were
“dismal” as retailers were
ordered to offer curbside
pickup only, and people
were hunkering down at
home. Since then, busi-
ness owners have had to
keep track of ever-chang-
ing restrictions as Umatilla
County has gone through
various phases, and Lara
said she has appreciated
help from the Hermiston
Chamber of Commerce.
“The chamber has been
awesome at keeping us
abreast of changes, and what
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type of business,” she said.
Nadia Monroy is open-
ing the doors to her new
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on Wednesday, Nov. 25, and
said she hopes to start off on
the right foot with the surge
in sales that usually comes
for retailers during the hol-
iday season.
After years of selling
homemade soaps and other
items at area bazaars, she is
opening Bella Grace Bou-
tique at 158 E. Main St. in
Hermiston. The shop will
sell women’s clothing,
accessories and home décor.
Population:
Continued from Page A1
with developers still inter-
ested in building out more
subdivisions in the city.
In Hermiston, Morgan
said just two of the housing
developers the city is cur-
rently working with repre-
sent about 350 planned new
homes for Hermiston over the
“THE CHAMBER HAS BEEN
AWESOME AT KEEPING US ABREAST
OF CHANGES, AND WHAT IT MEANS
FOR YOUR SPECIFIC TYPE OF
BUSINESS.”
Julie Lara, co-owner of JB Brick Company
“I’ve always dreamed of
opening my own storefront,
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true,” she said.
Monroy said she knows
it’s a risky time to be open-
ing a business, but she has
faith that it will work out.
The hardest part, she said, is
that businesses never know
when another set of man-
dates relating to COVID-19
might come along and what
they will look like.
“It has been nerve-rack-
ing, because I was afraid I
wasn’t going to be able to
open because of the freeze,”
Monroy said.
Tammy James of 60
Minute Photo in Hermiston
agreed that the uncertainty
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of the shutdowns this year.
Under the current restric-
tions the photo studio can
still operate, for example,
but Gov. Kate Brown has
warned that further action
could be taken at the end
of the freeze if hospitaliza-
tion numbers in the state
are not trending in the right
direction.
Usually, 60 Minute Photo
has Santa visit every week-
end in December, and
families show up unan-
nounced, forming long
lines as they wait their turn.
This year, appointments
with Santa must be sched-
uled in advance in 10-min-
ute increments, with time
in between each session
for sanitizing everything.
They’re also offering hol-
iday mini-sessions and
other services, with COVID-
19 protocols in place.
“Even the front counter,
every time someone walks
out, we’re re-sanitizing the
counter,” James said.
She said the year has
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but customers from Herm-
iston and the surrounding
areas have been loyal, and
60 Minute Photo staff have
next few years.
In the city’s news release,
he suggested a few rea-
sons for Hermiston’s contin-
ued housing growth, includ-
ing “expansive work in 2017
through 2019 to actively
build a deeper bench of hous-
ing developments just wait-
ing for the right conditions to
pull the trigger.” Historically
low interest rates have helped
pull that trigger, he said.
Morgan also referenced
the city’s comparatively quick
rebound in unemployment
rates from the unprecedented
spike in the spring. Accord-
ing to the news release, Uma-
tilla County’s unemployment
rate spiked to 13.9% in April
2020, but fell back to just
6.2% by September,
“Prior to 2020, the main
concern that we heard from
our business community
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2020
tried their best to protect
those customers’ health in
return.
“We do curbside,” she
said. “If people call and
say, ‘I have a health con-
cern, I can’t come in,’ we
say, ‘No problem, we’ll
bring (the photos) out to
you.’”
Kimberly Rill, execu-
tive director of the Hermis-
ton Chamber of Commerce,
said the chamber has been
doing what it can to promote
shopping locally during the
holiday season.
The chamber has been
promoting businesses on its
Facebook page and recently
emailed out a list of what
restaurants were providing
takeout or delivery during
the two-week freeze.
“Shop local, eat local, do
local, spend local,” she said.
Rill said the main thing
she’s hearing from local
businesses right now is that
During their Nov. 9
meeting,
the
Hermis-
ton City Council issued
a proclamation in sup-
port of Small Business
Saturday. The proclama-
tion stated that accord-
ing to the Small Business
Administration, small busi-
nesses were responsible for
64.9% of net new jobs cre-
ated from 2000 to 2018. It
also stated that 62% of U.S.
small businesses “reported
that they need to see con-
sumer spending return to
pre-COVID levels by the
end of 2020 in order to stay
in business.”
In addition to small busi-
nesses, the weekend after
Thanksgiving represents a
major sales spike for “big
box” retailers as well. This
year, many of those retail-
ers have announced they
are also spreading out their
deals beyond just Black
Friday, and offering sales
online.
Walmart, for example,
has been emphasizing a
Deals for Days sale rather
than a traditional Black
Friday event. The promo-
tion was rolled out in three
phases — Nov. 4, Nov. 11
and Nov. 25. While the
bulk of its holiday deals
are available online and
by pickup throughout the
month, the company has
stated on its website that
it will be offering some
in-store Black Friday deals
starting at 5 a.m. on Friday,
Nov. 27. During that sale,
the website states, store
capacity will be reduced
and customers will be asked
to wait in a socially dis-
tanced line outside the store
for their turn to enter.
was access to a large enough
workforce to meet their
needs, and available housing
was viewed as one of barriers
to that need,” Morgan said.
“I think the rapid and robust
return of employment to our
region from the sharpest eco-
nomic decline on record tells
me that supporting new hous-
ing development across west-
ern Umatilla County will
continue to be a major need
in 2021 and beyond.”
Portland State Univer-
sity’s Population Research
Center is the lead agency for
the Oregon State Data Cen-
ter, a state-level partnership
with the U.S. Census Bureau.
The PSU center creates
detailed annual population
estimates by analyzing birth
records, death records, driv-
er’s licenses, school enroll-
ment, Medicare enrollment,
voter registrations and other
records. The center also pro-
vides population projections
to help government agencies
plan for future growth, such
as building new schools.
A preliminary population
report is issued Nov. 15, and
after allowing time for feed-
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others that might be able to
catch any errors, the estimates
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they really want to do their
best to follow the rules that
have been set for them so
that their business and oth-
ers can stay open. She said
in light of the 75% capac-
ity rule currently in place,
many retailers are planning
to spread out their deals over
several days instead of hav-
ing one big event.
“I think you’ll see elon-
gated promotions,” she said.
She said she’s “so proud”
of local businesses for the
way they’ve adapted this
year.
“IT HAS BEEN NERVE-WRACKING,
BECAUSE I WAS AFRAID I WASN’T
GOING TO BE ABLE TO OPEN
BECAUSE OF THE FREEZE.”
Nadia Monroy,owner of Bella Grace Botique
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