Rock Hill Shop Survives Pandemic, Thanks City Leaders

ROCK HILL, S.C. (CN2 TODAY)  Small businesses were put through the ultimate test of survival in the past year.

In march 2020, many businesses around the world including right on Rock Hill’s Main Street had to shut their doors for 6 weeks and learn how to re-open in the “new normal.”

For many that meant changing the way they did business.

For owners of Overhead Station, Tami and Terry Windell, they never thought they would own a gift shop.

“We were both looking for a career change”, says Tami.

They also never thought they would have to work so hard to keep their business a float during a world wide pandemic.

It definitely was a struggle, there was a huge fear factor, are we goin to survive”, says Tami.

Overhead Station has been part of Rock Hill since 1976. It offers unique gifts from local vendors, and personalized invitations and stationary.

“We had been forced to close our doors for 6 weeks and that’s tough in the retail business, not only do you have to shut your doors, you have to worry about people shopping on Amazon”, says Tami.

When the pandemic hit, Terry and Tami says they knew they had to make changes if they were going to make it.

Terry worked for weeks to enhance their website.

“We offered private shopping, delivery and all of those little steps helped to pull us through”, says Tami.

They also credit the city of Rock Hill for introducing a Emergency Face Covering Ordinance to help customers feel safe when returning in person to shop.

Jennifer Wilford, director of Economic & Urban Development with the city of Rock Hill says they worked hard to keep businesses along Main Street and within the city open with what she called “creative solutions”.

Previous articleEbenezer Park Renovations
Next articleMore Than 2 Million Doses of COVID-19 Given in S.C.