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She was riding a new bicycle around the parking lot at Velocity Multi-Sport & Cycling on ����Vlog��ý’s east side Wednesday.

One foot at a time, some local small businesses are figuring out how they might balance on the shaky wheels of commerce as the COVID-19 pandemic rolls on.

At Velocity, a fitness and bicycle shop, Jordan Jorgenson’s father, Jason Jorgenson, seared hot dogs and burgers on a gas grill set up on the store’s outdoor deck. The grill was nestled on the corner of the deck next to two dozen new pairs of running shoes set out on a table for sale.

Under a pergola tent sat new bikes, equipment and fitness wear for sale.

During an emergency small-business conference call with Forward ����Vlog��ý this week, Jorgensen told other business operators he has been offering bag lunches—burgers, hot dogs and PB&J sandwiches—for families housebound during the pandemic.

Velocity has continued to operate store hours, too, selling bicycles and offering repair service.

Velocity is one of many small businesses that say they meet exemptions as “essential” businesses allowed to remain open during a state shelter-in-place order imposed this week to limit crowds.

The shop’s bag lunches are being offered on a quasi-nonprofit basis, but they’re also aimed at generating foot traffic as people become more leery about venturing out in public. It’s the first time Jorgensen, who also is a rental property manager and operator of a local insurance agency, has donned a grill chef’s hat since he worked as a line cook at a Chi-Chi’s restaurant years ago.

Jorgensen and his Velocity partners—spouse Julia Jorgensen and owner-operator Scott Wente—say outdoor physical activity such as biking could be vital for those under the strain of the health crisis.

And it’s what’s keeping their own hopes afloat.

Some people, they said, have brought in for repair bikes that haven’t been ridden in 20 years. The company on its retail side is practicing social distancing, even on its de facto outdoor sales floor. Repair work is being handled largely by Velocity picking up bikes from residents’ homes and returning them repaired.

The shop is using social media to try to host outdoor events. One such idea: social distance-conscious bike rides that would put small groups of people in single-file, spread-out rides along city bike trails located near Velocity.

“What we’re trying to do here with the lunches and the bicycling itself, for some families, is basically school P.E. class and school lunch, at least until kids are allowed back to school,” he said.

Dozens of small-business operators took part in Forward ����Vlog��ý’s conference call. Others have essentially shut down while they ride out the state’s partial public lockdown.

Jaysen Jorgensen and Tim Cullen, president of business-to-business marketing firm Roundhouse Marketing Services, led the chamber’s call by laying out their own recent experiences.

Cullen said he temporarily sent home workers in one division—Roundhouse’s shirt and apparel-printing operation on ����Vlog��ý’s north side—because of a lack of apparel orders from businesses.

In the coming days, many local businesses will face logistical or economic impacts of commerce that has become vapor-locked.

Among countless twists of irony in the COVID-19 crisis, large-scale furloughs or temporary layoffs could now become a flashpoint in the local economy. In the early weeks of 2020, the local unemployment rate remained at 3.5%—about in line with the national average.

Cullen urged small businesses to be as “honest and direct” as possible with employees about staffing and operational decisions.

The COVID-19 crisis has been as big a shock to workers as it has been to business operators.

“We’ve been clear it’s a furlough, not a layoff, because we want to keep them on as an employee. We want them to come back,” Cullen said.

Some of Cullen’s marketing division employees are working from home. Cullen said he is encouraging them to attend teleconference meetings wearing whimsical hats, and he’s stressing they take breaks for outside activities while working from home.

Cullen also advised bosses to keep in touch with furloughed or homebound workers occasionally to try to ease workers’ feelings of isolation.

Those measures can’t fix an epidemic, but Cullen said they might buoy spirits during a scary and uncertain time.

“We’re still here. We’re going to weather this storm. We’ll come back even stronger,” Cullen said. “The flu is contagious, but remember, so is your attitude.”