OKRetail News

OKRetail's Official Statement on Masks and Mask Enforcement

OKLAHOMA CITY - The Oklahoma Retail Merchants Association is encouraging all retailers to adopt a statewide policy that requires customers to wear face coverings or masks to protect the health and well-being of customers, associates and partners during the coronavirus pandemic.

Kiley Raper, CEO of the Oklahoma Retail Merchants Association said Thursday, "The health and safety of associates and customers is retailers' number one priority and wearing a face covering or mask is scientifically provence the spread of COVID-19. ORMA joins the National Retail Federation and applauds the leadership of companies like Walmart, Target, Starbucks, Best Buy, Apple, Costco and others that have implemented nationwide mask mandates."

Walmart, the state's largest retailer, along with Target and others enforcing a policy requiring customers to wear a mask to shop in their stores is clearly a tipping point in this public health debate. Workers serving customers currently must make a critical decision as to whether they should risk exposure to infection or lose their jobs because a minority of people refuse to wear masks in order to help stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

Since the onset of the pandemic, retailers of all sizes have been on the front lines safely serving customers and supporting their communities. Stores are private businesses that can adopt policies permitted by law for the health and safety of their associates and their customers. Raper adds, "Shopping in a store is a privilege, not a right. If a customer refuses to adhere to store policies, they are putting employees and other customers at undue risk."

As noted in a letter co-signed by the National Retail Federation, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable and other industry groups that was sent to President Trump, Vice President Pence and governors across the country two weeks ago, it is critically important that we have a national mask standard implemented locally. Retailers are protecting the health and safety of communities they serve. Our elected leaders need to set politics aside and follow their example.

"I implore all cities and towns across the state to impose a mask mandate immediately and commend those who have already taken action. This requirement will protect smaller retailers and frontline retail employees especially, as the minority opinion's vitriol against masks, we have seen, can be ugly and potentially dangerous. It is vital that employees and business owners are protected by law from violent responses to mask enforcement, as we have seen already in businesses which have pre-emptively adopted a mask policy," Raper concluded.

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Expert preaches hope, innovation to Oklahoma retailers

By: Chip Minty The Journal Record

For retailers, recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to look a lot like what the airlines went through after 9/11.

No one is likely to make much money in 2020, said Bob Phibbs, a national motivational speaker known as the “Retail Doctor.” Retailers will spend the rest of the year earning trust from their customers through safe, positive interactions that dismiss the gloom-and-doom mentality that has hijacked the nation.

But this is not the time to fret, Phibbs told members of the Oklahoma Retail Merchants Association during a webinar on Thursday.

“Hope and fear can’t occupy the same space at the same time,” he said. “Pick one and invite it to stay.”

Through a presentation titled “How to Survive the Current Crisis and be Ready for Coming Opportunity,” Phibbs said retailers can’t afford to wallow in the past. They must be ready to work for the future, and that’s not going to be easy because customers aren’t likely to be streaming back into their stores.

There’s an active market out there, and some consumers are going on “revenge buying” sprees for products that will make them feel better, but things are not going to be the way they were before this all started in early March.

“You are going to have to sell your way out of this,” said Phibbs, who has spent a quarter-century advocating for brick-and-mortar retailers under siege by online competitors.

He compared the COVID-19 crisis to the airline industry after 9/11, when passengers were reluctant to return to flying. Carriers had to focus on positive traveling experiences as the first wave of passengers ventured back to airports. They had to start earning trust again, then let those people tell their friends and colleagues. It was a gradual process, but passengers eventually came back to the industry that had been changed forever.

Similarly, the retail industry is not likely to be the same, post-coronavirus, he said. However, there are opportunities to earn trust and create hope through service and by changing the way of doing business.

Businesses should strive to be the gold standard of cleanliness by going the extra mile, taking measures to protect the health of customers and employees and to demonstrate they are taking this seriously.

He said they should rearrange showrooms to show better compliance with health and safety guidelines and use storefront windows to reflect hope and optimism.

“The worst thing you can do is unlock your doors and look the same as you did on March 9, when this whole thing started,” Phibbs said.

He encouraged retailers to use time wisely while business is slow, focusing on improvements such as employee training and sprucing up old websites.

Online retail and social media were growing prior to the virus, and they’re likely to be even bigger post-virus, so websites and social media are more important than ever for retailers.

Businesses that don’t have a website should build them, and if they’re not on social media, they should get social, he said.

Social media can be complicated, and every platform has its pros and cons. Phibbs suggested picking just one platform and mastering it.

Remember that for shoppers, it’s not about the money right now, Phibbs said.

“Don’t have a coronavirus sale. That’s not going to do it,” he says. “Stay away from doom and gloom.”

Instead, businesses should engage with customers and look for opportunities to serve them now, and the opportunities to sell will come later.

Consider publishing a newsletter, or create short videos with helpful information customers can use. A greenhouse might offer tips for starting a garden just as spring planting season arrives. Or, a carpet store might provide ways to clean common stains, which could be helpful to mothers contending with increased traffic from children.

Retailers can navigate these challenges successfully if they’re optimistic and if they’re willing to adapt and innovate, Phibbs said.

“Right now, we’re in the biggest storm we’ve ever faced,” he said. “When we get through it, it won’t be the same, but it could be better.”

Kiley Raper, chief executive officer of the Oklahoma Retail Merchants Association, said Thursday’s webinar drew a positive response from about 80 members who joined the call.

“I know a lot of retailers have been lost and confused like the rest of us in this process, but if there is anything Oklahomans know a lot about, it’s hope,” Raper said. “Hope fuels our fighting spirit. It’s what gets us through tough times. All of our communities have overcome those challenges before.”

Raper said most of the association’s members are having a very poor second quarter, but there is no reason they can’t sell their way back to at least a good break-even year.

“We expect Oklahomans will take advantage of the real mental health benefits of shopping in the next quarter and through the rest of the year,” she said.

“Now is the time for us to look to the future. Now is the time to have hope and spread it like an Oklahoma wildfire,” she said.

COVID-19 Update

4/1/2020 

Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loans

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) will provide cash-flow assistance through 100 percent federally guaranteed loans to employers who maintain their payroll during this emergency. If employers maintain their payroll, the loans will be forgiven, which will help workers remain employed, as well as help affected small businesses and our economy regain stability quicker after the crisis. PPP has many helpful features, such as forgiveness of up to 8 weeks of payroll based on employee retention and salary levels, no SBA fees, and at least six months of deferral with maximum deferrals of up to a year. Small businesses and other eligible entities will be eligible to apply if they were harmed by COVID-19 between February 15, 2020 and June 30, 2020. This program will be retroactive to February 15, 2020, in order to help bring workers who may have already been laid off back to work. Loans are available through June 30, 2020.

WHAT IS AN ESSENTIAL BUSINESS?

3/23/2020 - At ORMA, we are doing everything we can to provide support and help keep essential retailers in operation, but also what is necessary for you to know about how other retailers and communities are doing to keep their businesses afloat and citizens served. The Oklahoma Capitol is closed to all non-essential personnel which has changed our lobbying efforts, but the legislature is focussed mainly on essential and emergency-related legislation at this time. Our team is watching this activity carefully and will update you if we see anything concerning.

In the meantime, we have heard a lot about ways businesses are getting creative to keep revenue flowing and serve the community while some are making the choice to close. Some new initiatives we've heard retail businesses are employing:

• Provide early "elderly only" shopping hours
• Curbside Order Pick up
• Offer Delivery Service
• Selling take home craft projects or activity packets
• Go on Twitter or Facebook Live allowing loyal shoppers a chance to peruse new products from home.
• Providing care packages to first responders and health professionals
• Provide free shipping or gift with purchase for online or phone orders

In case you missed it, these news clips may be of particular interest to you:

• Pennsylvania limits operations of "Non-essential" businesses (See below signature for details)
• Cities across the country are starting to ask, and in some cases mandate, closures of non-essential businesses. This piece from today's Journal Record is an excellent overview of what OKC is doing and most Oklahoma towns and cities are doing the same. (https://journalrecord.com/2020/03/16/okc-mayor-urges-private-sector-to-act/)
• The City of Norman, however, has preemptively closed all gyms, dining rooms and bars. (https://oklahoman.com/article/5657843/bars-gyms-set-to-close-in-norman?)

Details on the above clips are below. Journalists are seeking out opportunities to tell new stories about how people are helping others, so if you choose to implement a new business model or have a story about a helper, please share it with us immediately. We will get it to reporters asap! We need some good news, don't you!?

In closing, I share a favorite Irish blessing on this St. Patrick's day, "Health be yours, whatever you do, and may God send many blessings to you! May the sun shine, all day long, everything go right, and nothing wrong."

OKC mayor urges private sector to act

Mayor David Holt asked local businesses to make their own decisions regarding how best to respond to the crowd restrictions imposed in Oklahoma City to curb spread of the coronavirus. (Photo by Janice Francis-Smith)

OKLAHOMA CITY – Public officials are asking private business owners throughout Oklahoma to make their own difficult decisions as to how to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in the best interests of their businesses, their employees and the public as a whole.

Employers facing such decisions would do well to keep up to date on the progression of the pandemic and on the shifting legal landscape with regard to managing their employees, said Crowe & Dunlevy attorney Michael Bowling.

As Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt announced Sunday he would be signing a proclamation restricting groups of more than 50 people from gathering throughout the city, he noted that the emergency measure applies to the city’s public facilities and functions.

“These are today’s actions and they are not yet applicable to the private sector, but we understand that message will be received and we do call on the public to consider responding,” said Holt. “I remind you the declaration of emergency means that we potentially have the ability to regulate all gatherings if public health demands it.”

The mayor’s office worked closely with the Oklahoma City-County Health Department to determine the best action to take for the city, following closely the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that groups be restricted to 50 people or less.

Private businesses have so far been very responsive to this public health crisis, said Dr. Patrick McGough, executive director of the OCCHD.

“Most people in Oklahoma City and Oklahoma County have been forthcoming and making their own decisions and they’re doing a great job,” said McGough. “I mean honestly, they’re doing a great job at self-imposing what they need to do. For most of the businesses, everyone is doing that very successfully.”

While shopping in stores, patrons are asked to keep their distance from others. Holt asked that citizens not sit down to eat in local restaurants, but to instead order food for pickup or delivery. But the pandemic poses different problems for different types of businesses.

“There’s not really a way to get a ‘to go’ drink from a bar and we understand that, and so I think bars will have to make some decisions moving forward,” said Holt. “And we reserve the right to make them for them, if it’s in the interest of public health. We’re not doing that today, but that is certainly on the table.”

Holt said he was no expert in dictating to business owners how to best handle their operations, but he noted the wealth of information that is available from public health organizations and best practices that businesses in other cities have already begun to implement.

“For any business that’s just been sitting on this and really thinking about what’s going on in other cities, what other stores, restaurants, bars are doing, it’s time,” said Holt. “In the days ahead we’ll be doing that research as well, and we now have the authority to regulate those things if we deem it necessary for public health. But these last few days, everybody canceled their own events. Wasn’t that better? It’s better if everybody does it out of their own free will because they see the necessity.”

Some movie theaters have offered to sell only half of their available tickets to give patrons the opportunity to sit far away from each other, said McGough. Several concert venues, like the popular Tower Theatre in Midtown, have opted to just close the doors for the time being.

“We’ve seen businesses shutter temporarily because they could not provide an atmosphere where people would not be gathering in those numbers,” said Bowling.

“Employers will have to be thoughtful about remaining in business,” said Bowling. “It is costly to pay people not to be at work versus maintaining their workforce, and so considering temporary sick-leave policies will certainly be something employers will want to consider.”

If they haven’t already done so, employers will likely shift very soon from allowing employees to work from home to requiring employees to work remotely. Taking a careful assessment of what jobs can and cannot be done remotely “allows companies to feel comfortable with how they’ve made that differentiation based on the business need and business realities rather than who happened to ask first,” said Bowling.

Several concert venues such as the Tower Theatre have chosen to shut down temporarily.
(Photo by Janice Francis-Smith)

Businesses like restaurants, on the other hand, may not have the option to allow many employees to work from home.

“One thing all employers need to do is to be more vigilant about employees coming to work sick,” said Bowling. “Especially with hourly and low-wage workers, there can be a tension between knowing that people may live paycheck to paycheck and really do need to be at work with the desire to have them not be there if they’re sick. And I know that that’s a tension that employers face all year long, especially in the winter.”

Congress may come through with a proposal to provide tax credits to help employers provide paid leave for workers sent home due to the pandemic, he noted, but the situation changes from day to day. Employers may want to reexamine their paid-leave policies, and make sure to follow the law on how their employees are paid. Salaried employees who are providing services and responsive must be paid a day’s wage, he said.

Employers’ rights shift with the circumstances regarding how to manage employees that appear sick but do not want to go home.

“The EEOC as a general rule says that you cannot take employee temperatures because that is an impermissible medical examination, but they have given us guidance in the past related to pandemics,” said Bowling. “In areas where there is active community spread, it’s an easy answer, like today in New York, Seattle. It may be an easy answer next week in Oklahoma City and Tulsa depending on the progression of this pandemic. In areas where there is active community spread it is clear that you can take people’s temperatures when they arrive at work.”

The employer has a legal responsibility to provide a safe workplace, said Bowling.

“As we balance the desire to maintain continuity of operations and profitability, ensuring that we’re maintaining safe workplaces is important so for worksites,” said Bowling. “Where they do still feel that people need to come in to work, people can’t do their work from home or the needs of the business require people to be on-site, employers can support people by helping them implement social distancing, improving cleaning measures to reduce the possibility of the spread of the disease within the workplace, following the CDC guidelines and making sure that even if they’re going to require people to come in to work that they do everything they can to make sure it’s the safest environment possible.”

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Top News Archive

For Immediate Release June 21, 2018

Oklahoma Retail Merchants Association calls Sales Tax Fairness Ruling a "Main Street Milestone"

United States Supreme Court rules states may compel online retailers to collect and remit sales tax

OKLAHOMA CITY - The Oklahoma Retail Merchants Association (ORMA) issued the following statement from ORMA’s Chief Executive Officer, Kiley Raper, regarding the ruling of the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) in the case of Wayfair v. South Dakota. Specifically, the ruling revists the SCOTUS decision in Quill Corp. v. North absolving retailers with no physical presence from collecting state sales tax.

“Thursday's SCOTUS decision is a Main Street Milestone. It has been over 25 years since the Quill decision and much has changed in our economy since 1992. The internet is no longer in its infancy and consumers were still making more of their purchases in stores not by clicking a link on their smartphone. Regardless of where a sale occurs, a sale is a sale and sales tax should be applied to every sale made to an Oklahoma consumer. Main Street retailers that employ your neighbors, pay property tax and support the little league team and high school band should be on a level playing field with out-of-state retailers that use our roads and landfills but do not have to collect the sales tax that is used to pay for this infrastructure. It is estimated that Oklahoma loses over $250  million in sales tax each year to remote sales where sales tax is owed but not collected. These are revenues that could now be used to lower everyone’s taxes, build roads and improve schools and increase teacher pay.

“ORMA is pleased by the United States Supreme Court decision in the Wayfair case. We are eager to work with the Oklahoma State Legislature to enact state legislation that will finally put an end to this unlevel playing on our Main Streets."

ORMA President, Mike Thompson, Thompson Pools in Norman, Oklahoma, said “As a brick and mortar, Oklahoma retailer, I can tell you that my commitment is to my community, where I live and operate. I believe that the Supreme Court opened an opportunity to level the playing field for me, and other retailers like me, who have been at a disadvantage compared to internet retailers who weren’t required to collect sales tax. I look forward to what the state legislature will do with this decision.”

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The Oklahoma Retail Merchants Association was founded in 2015 by retailers advocating for e-fairness legislation to save Main Street Oklahoma businesses. Since then, the organization has rallied for changes to retail business laws such as retail alcohol sales, organized retail crime, and tax reporting.