It s been said many times but bears repeating 2020 has been a hard year for restaurants.
According to OneSpartanburg, Inc. Chief Business Affairs Officer John Kimbrell, the pandemic has been hardest on independent restaurants and other small businesses, whose owners have had to make adjustments to accommodate for increasing costs and shifting customer bases. Even without the challenges that COVID-19 presented, the restaurant industry is really one of the tougher industries to succeed in, Kimbrell said. We just encourage people to continue to do business when they can with our local restaurants and merchants, especially during this holiday season.
While a number of restaurants have closed, Spartanburg s restauranteurs have shown great resilience and some of these goodbyes may not be permanent, Kimbrell said. Several restaurants, including The Crêpe Factory, Renato In Centro, and II Samuels, announced their intentions to find new locations as they closed their previous o
Not even the coronavirus will stop that.
Children have had the chance to chat with Santa and his helpers all over town. On Wednesday, Santa and Mrs. Claus made a special visit to Citizens and Southern Event Center in downtown Spartanburg.
A wintry backdrop with colorful Christmas trees surrounded Santa and Mrs. Claus. The only thing different this year was special arrangements had to be made because of the virus. Organizers followed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines requiring everyone to wear masks or coverings and social distancing.
The most important thing for the children was making sure Santa realized they had been good and wanted to be rewarded with lots of goodies. Instead of sitting on Santa s lap, children sat on the floor at a distance away from Santa and Mrs. Claus. It was visiting with Santa 2020 style and since the change didn t seem to bother children, parents were relieved.