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The Jefferson Exchange

The Ground Floor: Restructuring Retail In The Pandemic

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The retail business was already showing considerable signs of stress even when the economy was good.

The big online shopping sites can deliver goods to your door in a day or two, with little effort from you. That put enormous pressure on local brick-and-mortar retailers, and then the stay-home orders shut them all down.

They are now able to reopen, but with many restrictions and guidelines. In a special edition of our business segment, The Ground Floor, we visit with retail operators about how they've changed to accommodate the new reality.

Nancy Bestor runs Travel Essentials in Ashland; Pam Hammond is from the Paddington Station stores, also in Ashland; Jami Ronda runs Rogue City Comics in Medford; and Mark and Krissy Millner own Terra Firma in Jacksonville.

We get the lowdown on what they've done to bring shoppers back... and keep them safe.

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The Jefferson Exchange is Jefferson Public Radio's daily news program focused on issues, people and events across Southern Oregon and Northern California. Angela Decker is the program's senior producer, Charlie Zimmermann is the assistant producer, and Geoffrey Riley hosts the show.