Baker County business owners faced a choice Friday when the county entered the first phase of an economic reopening plan that Gov. Kate Brown announced the day before.

Many restaurants and other businesses immediately took advantage of the opportunity, either reopening or, in the case of restaurants, welcoming diners for the first time since mid-March.

But some business owners have delayed reopening due to concerns about labor costs and the limits on the number of customers allowed under the first phase of the reopening plan.

That plan requires restaurants and bars to limit occupancy as necessary to comply with social distancing, ensuring 6 feet between each group of diners. Restaurants that have back-to-back booths can only allow customers in every other booth.

Jerry Shaw, co-owner of the Inland Cafe, said the restaurant has been offering takeout and delivery.

“We didn’t have the option to close, we had to do something to continue paying the bills,” Shaw said. “We had to drastically reduce hours to maintain payroll, it was really a trial and error situation for the first couple of weeks.”

The Inland opened for in-house dining Friday morning.

Tyler Brown’s family owns three establishments that have been closed for the past several weeks — Barley Brown’s Brewpub, a tap room just across Church street from the brewpub, and Sumpter Junction restaurant.

Brown said the tap room could open next week, but the pub and Sumpter Junction won’t reopen until occupancy restrictions are eased.

The problem, Brown said, is that the reduced occupancy — he would have to operate with about one-third of the usual capacity for Barley Brown’s Brewpub, for instance, to comply with the state guidelines — make it impossible to operate profitably.

The tap room is different in part because it’s designed to operate with a single employee, so the labor costs are lower, Brown said.

Lone Pine Cafe will continue to offer takeout and delivery options, but the restaurant will not open for on-site dining for now because the costs would exceed the revenue potential, said manager Annie Croucher.

The Lone Pine has had to lay off most employees this spring, with Croucher and owner Aaron Schierman handling the takeout and delivery services.

Making decisions in these uncertain times is daunting, Croucher said.

“There’s been nothing like it before, I mean how do you handle these situations?” she asked.

Croucher said she’s grateful to the support from within the local business community during the pandemic.

Lone Pine, for instance, had trouble maintaining its inventory of to-go boxes, and reached out to businesses that were closed for help.

“Since they are not up and running we are able to purchase their to-go boxes from them or do trades,” Croucher said. “The support within the businesses has been huge, we are so close like a family unit.”

She’s also thankful for the cafe’s customers.

“Thankfully most of the people here want to support us, we couldn’t be more grateful for it,” Croucher said.

Both El Erradero and Latitude 45 posted on their Facebook pages that they would not be opening their dining room for now.

El Erradero will continue to offer takeout orders.

Other businesses

Cody’s General Store has reopened, although no more than 10 customers are allowed at one time.

Jody Jeffries, owner of Cody’s General Store and Copy, Ship and Mail, said that although her store had been closed, she did schedule appointments with customers and offered both delivery and curbside pickup of paint, which has been considered an essential item.

Jeffries also turned to Facebook where she had live sales, allowing customers to message her to purchase paints.

“I did a lot of videos in the paint studio on crafts and showing people how to do stuff, just trying to keep people engaged in stuff,” Jeffries said.

“I have tons of Lysol disinfectant that I use,” she said. “So, we were really practicing already, the social distancing, but we just weren’t opening our doors so people would think that we were open because I wanted to respect everybody’s rights because nobody wants to get that disease.”

At Tanglez & Toez Beauty Salon, operators are calling their clients to let them know they are now open and scheduling appointments.

“We’re having them wait in their car until we’re ready because we are sanitizing everything between clients,” said Teresa Smith, who began working at the salon a few months before the shutdown.

Employees have to change their aprons after each client, and sanitize any item that a client could touch between each appointment.

“We’ve taken out our waiting room, we have to book extra time between each client for sanitizing,” Smith said.

Jaycee Clasen, owner of Let R’ Cut Salon, said she’s excited to be back in her salon, despite the changes required.

“My schedule has changed, basically I’m by appointment only,” Clasen said. “I will get to all of my clients as quickly as I can. I know lots of people have been eager to come back and I’ve been eager to see my clients.”

YMCA to open, with limits

The Baker County YMCA, 3715 Pocahontas Road, will reopen Monday with a limit of 75 members in the facility at one time. A limited schedule of group classes will resume Wednesday with all except cycling held at the gymnasium on Church Street, which has more space to spread out. At the fitness center, some machines will be closed to ensure enough physical distance between people.

Hours are somewhat limited: 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. The center is closed on Sundays. On days of operation, it will be closed from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. for cleaning.

“We’re working really hard to make sure everyone is safe,” said Elisabeth Munsell, administrative assistant and marketing coordinator.

Members must check in and check out, and use the available hand sanitizer. Equipment needs to be sanitized before and after use, and then staff will also disinfect machines.

At this time, only active members are allowed to use the fitness center (no day passes, guest passes, or out-of-town Y members).

Updates and class schedules can be found on the YMCA’s Facebook page and website, www.bakerymca.org.

At this time, child care is not available. The pool is still closed.

Corey Kirk, Samantha O’Conner and Jayson Jacoby of the Baker City Herald contributed to this story, along with Lisa Britton.