Doors open at retail shops just in time for Mother’s Day

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) —  One local shop is thankful they can finally let their customers come inside.

Alayna’s Boutique and Hallmark stuck to curbside and online shopping/delivery for about 5 weeks before finally opening their doors to customers.

Store Manager Lori Godwin says, after 30 years of business, this is the first non-hurricane related closure.

“At that time Easter was coming upon us, so we had a lot of people who were asking for our Easter items plus the puzzles,” Godwin said. “We sold so many puzzles. It was amazing.”

Godwin explains the store was busy with card sales. Since a lot of Hallmark stores were closed, she says more cards were being shipped from this S. College Road store.

Although they are open, Godwin says some workers don’t feel comfortable returning.

“It was their decision,” Godwin said. “We told them about our practices that we were doing. We’re wearing masks. We’re doing the sanitation after every customer and wiping everything down. We have the plexi glass and  they were still not comfortable with it. We have some older employees who wanted to wait a little bit longer.”

Godwin says card, mug and puzzle sales were up, but clothes, jewelry, shoe and handbag sales were hit or miss.