Although some states are beginning to allow businesses to reopen following the coronavirus lockdown, numerous retailers and restaurants are opting to remain closed.
Even as Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee ease up on store restrictions, allowing businesses to reopen within social distancing parameters, national chains such as Best Buy (BBY -0.70%), Gap (GPS -1.17%), Macy's (M -2.14%), and Starbucks (SBUX -0.86%) are forgoing the opportunity.
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The CEO of restaurant chain TGI Fridays, Ray Blanchette, told The Wall Street Journal, "We don't want to be on the leading edge here."
Gap is also taking a circumspect approach, telling The New York Times, "We are closely monitoring the situation and will open our stores when we feel it is safe to do."
Eager to open
Other businesses are leaping at the chance to get their employees back to work. One unsurprising reopening is GameStop (GME -3.43%), which resisted closing its doors at the outset, arguing it was an essential business, and only acquiesced when it received significant backlash for remaining open. Now, it is reopening stores as states allow, and will be opening up overseas as well, including in Austria, Germany, and Italy.
