Cindy Reddick,
Accessorize It!
How has the COVID-19 pandemic
affected your business?
The number one thing it has changed
is the difference in walk-in customers–
being unable to have walk-in customers
right now versus doing more Internet,
Facebook and Instagram customers. I
do a lot of business via Facebook, via
Messenger, via just pictures. People
will take a picture of a measurement of
their window and send it to me. From
there, I will send them back pictures of
fabrics in the colors that they desire.
We have actually done a lot of window
treatments this way just through
photographs. Then I have the window
treatment made, and I can even go
install it in people’s homes when they
are not there. So, it’s worked very well.
What have you learned to appreciate
during this pandemic?
Probably, to appreciate the most, would
be the conversations with customers.
Being a small shop, sometimes people
come here just as a getaway and just
kind of need to talk lady to lady for
a little while. And just to share some
things. So I miss being able to have that
one-on-one conversation with folks that
14 TOOMBS COUNTY MAGAZINE
just kind of need to spend some time
with you for a few moments.
Do you have fears or hopes
for the future?
Well, first of all, I’m not fearful in any
kind of way. I’m just not. I just walk by
faith. I know whatever is to become of
Accessorize It, it belongs to the Lord,
and whatever he does with it, that’s
up to Him. I’m just here to run it.
Hopes? I hope that I will not go back
to working nearly as much as I was.
I want to continue to be mindful of
my store hours, be mindful of the fact
that just because someone’s surfing
on Pinterest at 10 o’clock at night
and sends me a picture to say, “How
can I do this?” doesn’t mean I have to
answer immediately. Sometimes I have
to remind folks I’m 9:30 to 5:30, and
I’ll help you when I can, but once I get
home, it’s family time.
Will you operate differently now?
It has made me realize I don’t have
to have the store stocked to the brim
at all times. I’m extremely mindful of
how I select what I purchase to come in
this store, so there’s always a nice flow.
There’s almost always every price point,
and I've come to realize less is more. So
I’m going to be a lot more mindful of
how I purchase in the future.
Brent Sammons,
Altamaha Bank & Trust
How has the shutdown affected
the way you do business?
We have definitely seen a change in the
way we conduct business as has everybody
in this community. In the banking world,
we had some infrastructure in place
already as far as our mobile capacity–
online banking–and ATM banking. We
had made some investment in those areas
recently that made all of this a little bit
easier for the customer to adapt. We have
utilized other products like Docusign
so that we can simply email documents,
loan documents, that type of thing out to
customers, so they don’t have to come to
the bank. We have definitely changed the
way we operate.
What has this situation taught
you to appreciate?
I think our team in all of our branches
and our board really stepped up and
adapted very quickly. Everybody’s
been positive and just stepped up to do
whatever we have to do to make it work.
At the same time, our customers did the
same. Even though we put up a sign that
said our lobbies were closed and we can
take appointments, we haven’t seen a
lot of people calling for appointments.
They’re content to use our other channels
for banking. We’re not hearing any
complaints about it. So, we are very
thankful for our staff, our customers and
the community for embracing the changes
that we’ve all had to make.
TALKING TO LOCALS
"We're trying to
avoid the fears and just
operate sensibly, to
walk by faith through
this whole thing, and to
care for one another as
we should..."
-Brent Sammons