Coronavirus shutdown hits seasonal businesses hard
DELAWARE, Ohio (WCMH) — Spring is in the air in central Ohio.
Trees are blooming; birds are chirping; and outdoor fun should be a hole in one.
Instead, all Dave Pfefferle sees at his Olentangy Mini Golf Complex is emptiness.
“I honestly stay up at night,” he said. “I hurt for everybody. I understand everybody is going through problems.”
Pfefferle opened up for business in 2015 and each year saw more success. Last year, the complex, which features a putt-putt course and batting cages, turned its first profit.
Pfefferle had high hopes coming into this season; but instead, he hasn’t even been able to open due to the coronavirus outbreak.
“We would’ve been well into our busier spring season right now,” he said. “Being a seasonal business, every day that we’re closed would be the equivalent of three, four, five days for a business that’s open for the whole year.”
Pfefferle did some research and found state and federal government assistance that should help a bit and he says, “I’m thankful for that.”
But then, the biggest hit to his morale came a few days ago when Gov. Mike DeWine announced the stay at home order would be extended to May 1.
“I didn’t know what to do! I emailed our bankers, I emailed our tax guys, I emailed anyone I could to find out what can we do?” Pfefferle said. “The uncertainty of how long this is going to last is kinda hard right now, too. If we can get this through in April, I think we are going to be okay. But if it goes through the summer…”
He is just hoping that this dream business of his that he’s been working on for years doesn’t turn into a complete nightmare in a matter of months.
“This is my livelihood. I’ve put my whole life on the line for this. If this collapses because of the financial stuff, I collapse,” Pfefferle said. “I would have to declare bankruptcy to be honest because there’s no possible way I could pay the loans.”
Still, through the uncertainty of it all, there are a couple of things Pfefferle is sure of. First: he has the ability to help others through his time.
“We kinda realize, okay we’re closed, we stock up on all our toilet paper earlier in the year. I started giving toilet paper away to some of our customers who ran out. Just okay, who’s out of toilet paper!? I’ve got a bunch! So yesterday morning, I spent a couple hours delivering toilet paper, just trying to help out,” he said.
And second?
“I keep telling myself it’s been a long time, it seems a long time, but it’s been 3,053 days since Ohio State lost to Michigan. THAT’S a long time!” he laughed.