Two businesses in the Northeast Arkansas region are showing others what it means by “great acts of kindness” during the coronavirus pandemic. 

The Brickhouse Grill restaurant in Jonesboro has become a downtown community market and convenience store to help people who are affected by the problems the coronavirus has caused.

The restaurant took to its Facebook page to say the restaurant was going to open a Brickhouse Bodega, a community market/convenience store, designed to help area residents and those practicing social distancing avoid the larger crowds.

According to their Facebook post, the Bodega will be located inside the main restaurant and abide by all store market/convenience store guidelines currently implemented in bigger cities to protect the Northeast Arkansas residents. 

The Bodega’s profits will be given to an emergency fund helping the service industry workers of Downtown Jonesboro who are needing it most. These folks will also get a 50 percent discount on goods they buy. It continued by saying the inventory and product line is expected to expand based on demand and need.

Anybody who visits the Bodega is screened and will have their temperatures checked. There will also be a limited number of people allowed in. 

Another Jonesboro business is helping restaurants it owns to get through the tough time. 

Young Investment Company informed its restaurant tenants that its April rent was not expected and told them to use the money and pay their employees. The investment firm owns several downtown Jonesboro restaurants such as City Wok, Eleanor’s Pizzeria, Main Street Coffee, Roots and The Parsonage. 

Clay Young informed the restaurant tenants that they would get through the tough times together and he asked them to concentrate on taking care of their families. 

Roots co-owner and executive chef, Karl Lowe said that this a new experience for everybody. 

With more people staying home, it means less money for the restaurant industry, which affects the employees as well. 

The Parsonage co-owner and chef John Myers said there was a 60 percent drop in attendance and less money coming in. 

Lowe and Myers thanks Young for the great act of kindness during this time. Lowe said he’s been in the restaurant industry for nearly 30 years and this is the first time something like this has happened. 

This World Brief was written by contributor Susan Powell.  Source:  KAIT8 and KATV

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