How some Anchorage stores are adapting to ‘hunker-down’ during the busiest shopping season

The holiday season is usually a busy time of year for Anchorage-area retailers, but the spread of the coronavirus and the city’s “hunker-down” order have made business owners rethink how they can get their products to customers. From hand-delivering orders to virtual check-in lines, here’s how some Anchorage businesses are accommodating shoppers.

Books and toys

December is typically one of the busiest months of the year for The Writer’s Block in Spenard, but co-owner Vered Mares says that hasn’t been the case this season.

“We’re down between 50% to 75% of revenue, which, if you do the math, is not sustainable — period,” Mares said.

To make up for their shortfall, The Writer’s Block has found ways to accommodate shoppers, including offering the opportunity to shop by appointment on days off. They even started what they refer to as a “personal shopper” program.

“Somebody can call and give me a list of genres or styles and a budget of books that they want, and I will go through the store and hand-pick books based on that,” Mares said.

After getting approval via text from the customer, Mares says, Writer’s Block will deliver orders in the Anchorage area.

“We do have a pretty stellar children’s book collection, but we also have puzzles and games,” Mares said. “We have hand-painted ornaments. … We have little plush toys and finger puppets, those kinds of things.”

Some stores are seeing more business online than in person. In South Anchorage off Industry Way, Janet Gregory of Over the Rainbow Toys says online business has increased more than tenfold since the pandemic reached Alaska in March.

“This spring, we were able to put a lot of effort into increasing the number of items we had on our website,” Gregory said. “It’s been a game changer for both us and our customers — our customers who don’t want to be out shopping, don’t feel safe out shopping and want to stay home.”

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In addition to online ordering, Over the Rainbow Toys accepts orders by phone. They also offer a complimentary gift wrapping service year-round, as well as curbside pickup.

Gift wrapping “is one of the most appreciated services we offer our customers, outside of our great selection of toys,” Gregory said. “It’s such a time-saver for people.”

For Ed Dodd of Classic Toys, business is also booming from online orders.

“A lot of people are doing curbside pickup, and how that looks is they order it — if they want it wrapped, the instruction is embedded within the ordering system — we wrap it, put it in the back and alphabetize it,” Dodd said. “They call us on the curb. … We bring it out, we have a little black table outside — we either set it on the stand or, if they’re more comfortable with us walking up to their car, we’ll put it in their trunk.”

He encourages Anchorage residents to shop local this holiday season.

“Take advantage of every single business’s curbside pickup, particularly take care of the restaurants — just buy gift certificates for them, and do curbside pickup because they are hurting a lot more,” Dodd said.

And while it won’t be ready by Christmas, Dodd recently received approval to construct a drive-thru on the back end of the store. It’s a concept he has had for the last 10 years, and he hopes it can save stressed-out parents the hassle of bringing their children inside to shop.

Housewares and pets

Amy Shimek of Metro Cooks in Midtown says a big portion of the store’s annual revenue comes between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“It’s a very important season to us,” Shimek said. “At the same time, the health of our employees and our customers is of the utmost importance. We’re trying to find a balance between accommodating those shoppers that want to come in the store and shop in-person, but also keeping it safe for everybody.”

This season, Metro Cooks has been offering what they call personal shopping services over the phone and through Facebook Messenger.

“We have people reach out to us all day, every day: Sometimes they know what they want, and they just want to know, ‘Can you let me know what kind of popcorn poppers you have in stock and would you be able to mail that out for us?’ ” Shimek said. “So we will send them different photos of popcorn poppers that we have.”

Shimek says curbside pickup is available, as well as shopping hours on request for those at high risk. Sometimes, people don’t always know what they are shopping for, and Shimek says that’s OK: The sales staff can provide gift recommendations.

“It seems to be working out great, especially for people who just aren’t comfortable coming into the store right now,” Shimek said.

In a non-pandemic year, Metro Cooks offers complimentary gift-wrapping, but it’s forgoing that in 2020 to ensure customers are making their way through the store in a timely manner.

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Off the Old Seward Highway is Ozarks, an antique store with vintage decor, where owner Nancy Hughes says they are adhering to the municipality’s 25% customer capacity cap. She says over 8,000 square feet of storefront allows for plenty of space to social distance.

And for those who may not want to shop in person but see something on Ozarks’ social media that they want, they can set up an appointment for curbside pickup. Hughes says Ozarks has everything from home decor to clothing and children’s gifts.

“They don’t need to go from place to place. … (We’re) making it easier to come in and do one-stop shopping,” Hughes said.

Locally owned pet supply store AK Bark’s owner Mark Robokoff says they have been “on the more careful end of the spectrum.” Their in-store policy allows for two customers to shop in-person at a time.

“We’ve had protocols in place that have been consistently more comprehensive than what the city has mandated,” Robokoff said.

Customers can see whether the store is at capacity by a television monitor Robokoff put in the window. They can then scan a QR code that puts them in a virtual waiting line.

“I started looking around online for a queueing system -- I was thinking about the traditional take-a-number type thing,” Robokoff said. “I also wanted something simple where people wouldn’t necessarily have to get out of their car.”

For those who are still cautious of shopping in person, AK Bark also accepts online orders and offers curbside pickup. Robokoff says the community response has been overwhelmingly supportive and positive.

“People are watching, people are paying attention, they are letting each other know and they are going to remember,” he said.