MUSKEGON, MI - A local jewelry store sparked a stir on social media last weekend when it announced that it had begun selling groceries in order to qualify as an essential business.
“We are open!” read a May 23 post on the Facebook page for Krautheim & Swanson GemWorks, 4851 Harvey Street. "We now have a small grocery department so we are an ‘Essential’ business.”
The idea was to allow the business to reopen in the face of ongoing restrictions on retail establishments - restrictions that were loosened on Tuesday to allow retail shopping by appointment.
By Tuesday evening, the post - and the business’ Facebook presence - had disappeared, but not before owners Karl Krautheim and Julie Swanson faced a torrent of criticism, and some sharp defenses of the generations’ old local business.
Some on social media accused the family-run establishment of flouting rules put in place to maintain social distancing during a pandemic.
“At least you put the word ‘essential’ in quotes, indicating your total disregard for integrity,” one user replied. Others said they would not patronize the business in the future.
“Good for you for doing what is needed to provide income for your family,” another user wrote, coming to the store’s defense.
Krautheim wrote in a comment that the restrictions on certain types of businesses favor large, diversified retailers over small, specialty mom-and-pops.
“Meijer, Sam’s, Target can sell jewelry because they sell groceries, why can’t I?," he wrote. "I need to save my business, feed my kids, pay my mortgage.”
Instruction signs in regards to COVID-19 precautions on the front of Krautheim and Swanson GemWorks in Muskegon, Michigan on Tuesday, May 26, 2020. Alison Zywicki | azywicki@mlive.com
Speaking to an MLive reporter on Wednesday, Krautheim said the store was selling dry and prepackaged foods. Out on the floor was a small stock of canned soups and beans. There had been peanut butter, Krautheim said, but it sold out.
Signs outside the business read that customers must knock before entering, and are allowed in one party at a time. Those wearing masks will be required to show ID, another sign reads.
As of Tuesday, May 26, retail businesses were allowed to reopen by appointment only.
The timing might render the grocery sales unnecessary, said Meegan Holland, vice president of communications and marketing at the Michigan Retailers Association, an industry trade group that merged with the state’s grocery trade group three years ago.
“I don’t understand why they’d need to start selling food in order to open now,” she said.
Her group is taking “a very broad view of what by-appointment means,” she added. Just as a person can walk up to a hair salon and get an immediate appointment, so too can a customer walk up to a not-crowded store and be welcomed to shop, Holland said.
“Our line always is, 'Hey, if local law enforcement steps in, you better be able to defend it.”
Canned goods on display for sale at Krautheim & Swanson GemWorks in Muskegon, Michigan, on Wednesday, May 27, 2020. Alison Zywicki | azywicki@mlive.com
Krautheim said that the decision to stock groceries was a preemptive measure against any future statewide shutdowns of businesses.
“If we are to be shut down again by the governor, we need to be able to stay open,” he told MLive.
He told MLive that he shut down the Facebook page because of the response to the grocery post.
The Krautheim family has run a jewelry business in Muskegon for more than 130 years. Krautheim’s great-grandfather opened a tiny watch repair shop on Pine Street and Western Avenue in 1887. That shop moved several times before shuttering in 2008, and Krautheim and Swanson, a former employee turned business partner, opened as GemWorks out by the Lakes Mall in Norton Shores later that year.
GemWorks operates a small online shop on Etsy, but Krautheim said on social media that sales on there cannot compare to what he accomplished at his brick-and-mortar shop.
Karl Krautheim, owner of Krautheim Jewelers, pictured in 2008. (MLive file photo)
GemWorks closed on March 24 in accordance with the state’s first “stay-at-home” order, an effort to quell the spread of the novel coronavirus. In the months since that first shutdown order, businesses have struggled to adapt to changing rules by transitioning services online or to a takeout or curbside pickup model where possible. Others have closed entirely, attempting to ride out the fight against COVID-19.
Some restaurants have turned themselves into grocers, reorienting their own supply chains to sell goods, purchased wholesale, to customers. According to the National Restaurant Association, an industry trade group, restrictions on such business has been seemingly relaxed during the pandemic, but certain tax rules apply to groceries that don’t apply to restaurant meals, for example.
Empty shelf where JIF brand peanut butter was displayed for sale at Krautheim & Swanson GemWorks in Muskegon, Michigan, on Wednesday, May 27, 2020. Alison Zywicki | azywicki@mlive.com
While, statewide, most businesses that sell food need specific food licenses, some exemptions exist under the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, which authorizes those licenses. Businesses that sell “incidental amounts” of prepackaged foods may be exempt from needing a license, which is why a hardware store can sell candy by the cash register.
Krautheim said that he chose his grocery stock based on what is allowable under those restrictions - “so we are not arbitrarily considered a nonessential business in the future,” he said.
MLive Multimedia Specialist Alison Zywicki contributed to this article.
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