photo by: Associated Press

A letter carrier walks past Weaver's department store in downtown Lawrence, Thursday, April 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

As more downtown businesses reopen or bolster their online and curbside services, a local directory can help Lawrence residents navigate how to shop or order from their favorite establishments.

Downtown Lawrence Inc. has created a directory of downtown businesses that indicates which businesses are open and in what capacity they are serving customers, such as curbside pickup, carryout or online orders only. Sally Zogry, the executive director of Downtown Lawrence Inc., said the organization wanted to make sure that people knew downtown was still open and that those businesses needed support.

“We are still open in a different way, in a safe way,” Zogry said. “And it’s absolutely critical that the community supports their local businesses, because if we want to have them when things calm down, we need to be supporting them now however we can.”

The directory includes dozens of downtown businesses, descriptions of how they are currently serving customers and links to their websites. Currently, more than half of the approximately 140 businesses listed indicate they are open in some capacity.

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has said that the state will reopen in a phased approach. Kelly will announce her plan to gradually reopen the state in a locally televised address at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Zogry said even after the statewide stay-at-home order lifts, reopenings would happen step by step and she expects to keep updating the directory for the foreseeable future

Since limits on business and public gatherings have been put in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus, Zogry said quite a few downtown restaurants, bars and retail shops have improved their websites, and some have created websites for the first time so that they can take online orders. Zogry said a handful of businesses that were temporarily closed have recently reopened under new formats, including curbside service, contactless pickup and delivery options.

“It’s great to see how resourceful and nimble these businesses have been,” Zogry said.

So far, Zogry said she was aware of only one business, Wake the Dead restaurant, that has decided to close permanently. To support local businesses, Zogry encouraged residents to put in an order locally instead of shopping online or to buy gift cards, which she said helped give the business an immediate cash flow. For merchandise orders, she noted that some businesses could deliver the same day.

Downtown Lawrence Inc. has put out a survey to businesses to find out what their plans are going forward and what precautions they will have in place to protect staff and customers. Results from that survey are not available yet, but Zogry said that while she did not expect every door to open right away, businesses would likely be more active than they have been.