COVID-19 Student Interviews - Milner, Bethany
Abstract
Description
Bethany Milner is the Owner and Manager of Top Leaf Cigar Lounge, a premium cigar retail shop and smoking lounge in Winston-Salem founded in November 2016. Top Leaf saw a slowdown in business as early as February and as a unique hyrbid retail and lounge business, Milner had difficulty finding safety restrictions that addressed her business model well. While she was technically labeled as an essential business, being a tobacco distributer, she decided to align herself with Stage Two openings instead, closing initially and then reopening two months later. She explains the complications she encountered seeking finanical support and how she ended up spending most of the loan she received on taxes related to her tobacco license. During the quarantine period, Top Leaf stayed afloat by delivering cigar orders to individuals' homes, and once they reopened, they did so with a long list of cleaning and health procedures, some of which Milner plans to keep in place even after the pandemic. She expresses love for her business and the ability to hear many perspectives from the customers that smoke in her shop, then addresses the politically charged American perspective on COVID-19 and mask wearing. Although she notes this time as uncomfortable, she shares that she has learned to find peace in the discomfort and is optimistic about the change that will come out of this period.
Keywords
Coronavirus infections--History--Sources, COVID-19 (Disease)--History--Sources, Wake Forest University--History--Sources, COVID-19 Student Interviews, Office of Civic and Community Engagement