JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Two years ago to this day, the state of Florida shut down as COVID-19 ramped up. Businesses were hit hard, and some didn’t make it.
But others pulled through.
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Today, cooks serve up delicious plates of hot food at Senor Loco on Jacksonville’s Southside. Action News Jax was there Thursday as hungry customers got their fill and got back to their busy days.
Things didn’t look like that two years ago when COVID-19 ravaged the world and Florida was under lockdown.
“We finally open and the third wave closes us down; it felt bad,” Senor Loco Tacos & Tequila co-manager Jorge Magana said.
The timing couldn’t have been worse for Magana and his team when they opened the eatery — just three weeks before the lockdown.
“In the beginning it was scary about the closing in the third wave,” Magana remembered.
What could’ve been a story about a local restaurant going under is instead a story of victory. Magana owes Senor Loco’s success to the locals who ordered to-go, keeping the budding business afloat.
“It’s really nice all the people supporting us because I know all the businesses around the area, they closed down. That is bad for everybody, for the economy, for Jacksonville.”
Magana feels lucky to do business in a state like Florida, which began reopening as early as May — just two months after the lockdown.
“We are lucky in Florida for support, especially all the business we’d be getting,” he said, adding, “New York, California, a couple different states — they were open at maybe twenty-five percent, maybe fifteen, no. They were still closing. It was bad.”
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“It’s like time runs fast, but we’re keeping busy, we’re keeping working,” he said.
Magana doesn’t look back, only forward.
Other businesses weren’t so lucky, and some are planning a comeback. After 28 years, COVID-19 put Metro Entertainment Complex, an LGBTQ+ bar out of business.
Owner Jerry Rosenberg tells Action News Jax he’d love to reopen after the pandemic is over, and added, “if some young energetic people come along that would want to partner with us and help run it.”
Action News Jax has requested the number of businesses that have shut down over the past two years from the Chamber of Commerce and the Department of Economic Opportunity. We will update this story with an answer.
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