Local businesses grind to survive during the COVID-19 pandemic

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – When the evil virus entered our atmosphere, politicians far smarter than the rest decided which businesses were “essential” and which were considered “non essential.”

Those in the essential category included liquor stores, pot shops, grocery stores and a few others. Those in the non essential category was just about everything else, including building supplies.

“Originally we were on the non essential list. But a few days later the Governor changed his mind. A lot of people got to him over the weekend and building supplies were suddenly allowed. We closed for a few days and reopened,” Guy Ellestad,owner of Tosca Natural Stone in Miramar, said.

Then he reinvented what he could to make it easier for people to get those now ‘essential’ building materials like granite, rock and stone.

“At this point, this is essential for us,” the Miller family said.

“Before the Coronavirus hit we got hit by a flood. Our washing machine was on the second floor and it exploded and flooded our entire house. We have kids home with home school. we’re working from home and we’re doing emergency home renovations. We at least need the materials to fix our house”, says Heather Miller.

Like a lot of business districts, Miramar is spotted with open and closed signs. One of the signs that’s still open is craft beer joints. Lots of them in this part of town. They affectionately call it “Beeramar” for it’s abundance of craft breweries. One of them is Duck Foot Brewing.

“We are doing everything we can to keep brewing. We have pick up at the store, we can deliver to your door at home or you can order on line and we’ll just deliver it to your car when you pull up,” Matt DelVecchio, owner of Duck Foot Brewing, said.

“We’re about to celebrate our 5th anniversary. It’s going to be different but we’re going to fight to keep going,” DelVecchio said.