In Oslo, Minnesota, owner of Jamieson's on Main reflects on COVID-19 shutdown
This year, he held his yearly party on Friday, March 15, and looked back on how Jamieson's on Main in Oslo has recovered from the pandemic.
"It was close to the point where we almost had to close because we couldn't afford to keep it open," he said. "Just because we had to close didn't mean the bills didn't keep coming."
The COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, catching the nation off guard. Different states had different rules and regulations; some offered more freedom to keep the economy afloat, while others went stricter to slow the spread of illness. Jamieson said he wasn't a fan of the restrictions Minnesota faced in comparison to North Dakota.
It was tough to shut down while North Dakota bars — just across the Red River — were able to stay open. He had one word to describe what the pandemic was like for him and his bar.
"Terrible," he said.
Jamieson's on Main
shut down
on March 17, 2020, expecting to be closed for 10 days. On that day, Jamieson spoke of his worries that the closure would negatively affect his small business. Those 10 days stretched to 75.
When he
reopened
for on-sale alcohol with other bars and restaurants — ordered as customers sat outside — he had concerns about how weather could impact the tentative return to business.
A year after
the shutdown, things were building back up, but were still stymied by restrictions like having to close at 11 p.m.
Now, Jamieson said things are mostly back to normal, though he has seen a change in how often people are taking food to go — especially pizza.
"There will be strangers in here saying, 'we heard you've got really good pizza,'" he said.
Businesses struggled on the North Dakota side of the Red River, too.
Keith Lund, president and CEO of the Grand Forks Region Economic Development Corporation, recalled supply chain issues and how businesses reacted. Some manufacturers changed to making things related to the pandemic, such as COVID barriers. For example,
Red River Biorefinery
began churning out hand sanitizer, as did
Red Pine Distillery
. However, the companies rapidly pivoted back once their supply chain issues were resolved and they could reliably return to making regular products.
Then-Mayor Mike Brown assembled a group of local leaders to talk with businesses and nonprofits, and how to react to specific challenges.
"Grand Forks and North Dakota did what they could," Lund said. "The city of Grand Forks did a good job. You can't solve every challenge."
Barry Wilfahrt, president and CEO of the East Grand Forks-Grand Forks Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber was always in contact with businesses in the area, answering questions and keeping people updated about restrictions and regulations as news came in. Though Wilfarht said everything has come back to where things were before the pandemic, it was a slow recovery. Every sector was affected differently, he said, though he believes hospitality had it the worst. Uncertainty was the biggest challenge, and the chamber never took a day off, he said.
"Many weekends and long days," Wilfarth said, were taken up answering calls and text messages, updating the chamber's website with the latest information. It required a fast learning curve, figuring out how to talk through digital meetings and adjusting to the different rules for each state. Chamber members weathered it, he said.
In Oslo, Jamieson, his wife and their employees were also weathering the pandemic. Employees helped out where they could. The bar served to-go food and off-sale alcohol, and Jamieson and his wife had jobs outside the bar. Things are 100% better now, he said.
Looking back on his younger years, he recalled his family talking of the Spanish flu and its impacts. He didn't think he'd experience something like it. But then COVID came along.
"I hope it never happens again in my lifetime," Jamieson said.
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