The COVID-19 omicron variant has caused a surge in cases, and local businesses are feeling its impact. The Register Forum conducted interviews with several stores across Cambridge to hear their perspectives. One of the establishments was the Harvard Book Store, which is located on Mass Ave. “We have gone through many different phases of the pandemic since the spring of 2020,” Alex W. Meriwether, the general manager at the store, told the Register Forum in an email interview. “Through the spring of 2021, we maintained a capacity maximum at the store. We were able to slowly get the in-store setup, hours, and business closer and closer to pre-pandemic levels, though recently greatly limited our hours again amid the Omicron surge … We will be keeping fingers crossed that the current surge in our community improves soon, and will be mindful of case counts as we navigate next steps. We are fortunate to have a smart, dedicated staff that has excelled at pivoting to different models over these past two years as needs arise.”

Another business that was interviewed was Zinnia, a jewelry store located in Harvard Square. Kevin Herdon, the Assistant Manager at the store, explained to the RF, “When the pandemic first started, we had a big thing where you couldn’t try anything on without cleaning it … We wiped everything down: door handles, spinners, anything we touched. It took up a lot of our time, so we don’t do a lot of it anymore, but we still use air purifiers and wipe things down once a night like normal again.” Herdon continued, “I think [slow business at Zinnia] has to do a lot with the students and not so much COVID. I think people are still shopping, to be honest. I mean, we definitely don’t have the numbers we did a few years ago, but I think in comparison to the COVID years, we’re kind of on par.” Regarding the store’s future plans, he said, “We’ve been trying to increase our social media presence … because people aren’t walking by as much, so it’s less about window displays. Other than that, it’s just been business as usual.”

Jerry Murphy, the president of the Harvard Cooperative Society, known as the COOP, described to the RF the surge’s effect on the COOP. Murphy told the RF via email that since spring 2020, the COOP’s “policies have changed with the ebb and flow of mandates from the Governor and the city of Cambridge,” adding that the store “focused more on online sales and offered curbside pick-up.” Murphy also told the RF, “[The] recent surge has negatively impacted the number of visitors and purchases, particularly after Christmas. We expect this will continue, particularly if Harvard goes remote learning in the Spring semester. What happens at Harvard impacts our business.” As for the future, Murphy plans to “continue to make the store a safe shopping experience, review our hours of operation in light of business trends and keep nimble to be able to pivot our business as the pandemic continues.”