Gladys Vieux-Ramon was horrified when she first heard about the state’s plans to shut down businesses.

“It was very difficult at the beginning,” said Vieux-Ramon. “I had to operate all by myself.” Her business, Foti Flowers at Yuess Gardens, was eventually deemed essential.

They had been operating with no walk-ins. They also were strictly doing funerals and no-contact delivery. Most of recent business has been for grave-site flowers.

Vieux-Ramon said that the change in operations restricted where the shop could deliver. They couldn’t deliver to hospitals and nursing homes. She’s uncertain how that will be addressed now and beyond.

With the recent reopening of the region, Foti Flowers qualified for phase one. The business can now offer curb-side delivery, and in store pickup and drop off.

“We’re going to continue with a lot of caution,” said Vieux-Ramon. “If someone comes in, we’re going to have to set up some barriers and of course strictly one person at a time by appointment only.” She said that the business is no longer operating at regular staff. Now there’s only a few employees at a time at overlapping hours.

“I had to work pretty much alone,” said Vieux- Ramon. “We also had a problem getting flowers; it was very difficult, especially in times of loss.”

“Of course,” said Vieux-Ramon when asked if she was worried about permanently closing her doors. “Because I didn’t know whether we were going to be able to operate. At one point when we couldn’t get flowers, I thought, ‘okay maybe this is not going to work.’”

Foti Flowers ended up having to go beyond the Orange County area to access flower suppliers. Flower suppliers tried to help the shop.

As the state remained shut down, holidays became hard for the shop.

“It was a very difficult Mother’s Day,” said Vieux- Ramon. “We have a lot of our patrons who come in to pick out their flowers. We couldn’t let them come in, so that’s sort of hurt us a bit. But, we’re happy to be there for our patrons. Now, we’re going to continue with safety.”

Vieux-Ramon said customers were upset after the change in operations.

“We tried to help them the best we could,” said Vieux- Ramon. “When they [the state] first closed, it was really scary. I didn’t know whether we were able to reopen.”

She said that her business wanted to make sure it could take care of local families.

'“We’re sorry to miss out on the milestones, like today would have been prom, graduation. We’re missing quite a bit,” said Vieux-Ramon. “We look so forward to having the kids come in; excited to pick up their wrist corsages and show us the picture, and give us their feedback on Facebook. I don’t know what normal is going to be right now.”