For Tom and Mary Joy Lynch, Wooster was an idyllic place for their retirement.
Freshly moved from Parma, they opened Lynch s Irish Imports and Gifts and the Market Street Inn bed and breakfast in 2017.
For three years business boomed. Imports from Ireland arrived on time and guests regularly checked in.
Then in 2020, COVID-19 struck, forcing them to close along with all other nonessential businesses. We flatlined, Tom Lynch said.
Wooster s tourism scene that relies on agriculture, city and college events came to a halt in 2020 with the pandemic. This new reality forced many restaurants, stores and hotels to temporarily close or lay off employees.