By Megan Wehring and Sahar Chmais
HAYS COUNTY — Businesses are in a difficult position right now. Owners have to decide whether to implement their own safety protocols. If they enforce a mask rule, they may lose some customers; if they do not enforce the rule, they could also lose customers.
Effective March 10, Gov. Greg Abbott allowed businesses to open 100% capacity while also lifting the Texas mask mandate in its entirety. This left the choice in the hands of business owners. That decision is not made lightly, considering the backlash of consumers on both sides of the spectrum. The mask rules are not so black and white, either.
Noa Sutherland, co-owner of Zoi Natural Pharmacy and Grocery, said they are operating the same as HEB; not engaging in confrontation but when a person walks in, the employees wear their masks.
One difference from HEB is that this store does not ask customers to wear masks when inside the store. Sutherland explained that nearly 99% of their customers walk in masked and the store is never crowded – about one or two customers per hour. But whether to mask or not is completely up to the customers, which is the store’s solution to honoring and respecting the community, Sutherland explained.
Even then, the store has received scrutiny from pro- and anti-maskers about their policies. Many businesses, even those enforcing the mask rule, have said that if a person walks in without a mask, they would only ask the customer to wear one. If they do not oblige, many stores do not want to create unnecessary conflict and drop the matter.
Other establishments are not restricting customers from dining if they decide not to wear a mask. Jennifer Walker, owner of Homespun Kitchen & Bar in Dripping Springs, said she is leaving it up to the customers.
“I’m sure there will be some people that are not going to like it,” Walker said. “But I feel like the customer has the right to choose.”
John McIntosh, owner of the Barber Shop Bar in Dripping Springs, said lifting the mask order has increased foot traffic.
“We’ve noticed an uptick in the number of people who are out and about,” McIntosh said. “While it’s not back to normal, it certainly feels like we are moving that direction.”
Not all stores are following suit with their policies. MudBugs was unclear on its masking policies. One of the managers, John Herdman, said employees wear masks when serving customers. But that was not the case recently.
The restaurant’s bartender was serving a customer while hanging a mask from her ear. When Herdman was asked to clarify why the bartender’s face was not covered while serving customers, he said he no longer wanted to comment.
For more details about mask regulations, please reach out to your local restaurants and businesses.
