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How small businesses in one Denver neighborhood are doing

No business in Berkeley is untouched by COVID-19. 9NEWS checked in with a few of them to see how they're doing now and planning for the months ahead.

DENVER — We think to ask our family, friends and neighbors, but it's about time to check in on those places we once loved to check out.

Small businesses are hurting, and some describe the uncertainty of the future as a tunnel with no light at the end.

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"It’s just a big, long tunnel," Daniel Appell. "Could be a week. Could be a month. Could be a year.”

Appell owns the Grateful Gnome Sandwich Shoppe and Brewery in Denver's Berkeley neighborhood. He's still serving up Jersey-style sandwiches and 12 brews on tap to-go, but he had to let go of 17 employees.

“I had 20 employees that I care about like family and to have to tell them like, 'Hey, I can’t pay you your hourly [wage] that you depend on,' has been heartbreaking," he said.

The outdoor shop FERAL on nearby Tennyson Street laid off its six employees during the pandemic and now relies solely on online sales.

“When we had to close down the brick-and-mortar side of our business, that was basically a closure of 97% of our total business," said owner Jimmy Funkhouser.

Funkhouser said he and fellow business owners are most worried about the future.

“We fully expect to be able to reopen on [May 1] in the event the [stay-at-home order] is lifted, but that’s not survival," he said. "Survival will be determined over the next couple months.”

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FERAL counts on customers coming back in force, but Funkhouser said he doesn't know when that will happen or what it will look like for his business.

“I think that’s what all of us is most concerned about is when we open the doors back up, are people going to be excited to support?” he said.

Just a few doors down, Nicole Wolsey-Neech wonders the same about her gift store, Jolly Goods. Sales are down at least 90%. 

“I think it’s going to be really hard for people to survive, sadly," Wolsey-Neech said.

The shop also lost its only employee.

"He actually ended up having to move back in with his parents back in Iowa," Wolsey-Neech said.

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A block away, Mouthfuls Pet Supplies is making do as an essential business relying on pickups and deliveries to customers who can't step foot in the store.

"Everything’s over the phone and online," said manager Teya Pomeranz. "It’s a little bit different, getting used to it.”

Business is still down about 30%.

"But people need dog food, so we’re grateful to be working and be out here," she said.

Despite the uncertainty, there's still a sense of hope among businesses in Berkeley.

"I think any entrepreneur, anyone that starts a small business does so because they're optimistic," said FERAL's Funkhouser. "I don't think a pandemic should change that for anyone that really cares about what they do."

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