Car dealerships, photography businesses reopen Monday

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) — After protests and pleas, Kentucky’s business sector is slowly reopening Monday.

We spoke with a used car dealership and a local photographer about what Monday meant for them.

Usually, people dread Mondays but not this one.

For photographer Rebecca Flanery, monday meant being able to do her first photo session in months.

“Of course it’ll be a little different with social distancing. I have my homemade face mask to wear and we’re gonna be staying further away but we have zoom lenses and things to combat that,” says photographer Rebecca Flanery.

Flanery had to file for unemployment when all her wedding sessions started getting cancelled.

She has two photography businesses: Love and Lenses Photography for weddings and Rebecca Flanery Photography for portraits.

“But now I’m trying to jump back into it and get off that unemployment so that the people who really need it can get those funds,” says Flanery.

Unlike Flannery, Rayyan Auto Sales off Winchester Road in Lexington could do some business while shutdown.

“What was happening was people were getting these stimulus checks and there weren’t a lot of places to spend them except for grocery stores and your basic essential needs, so we sold quite a few cars last month but we did it by appointment,” says Todd Prater, salesperson and service manager at Rayyan Auto Sales.

So even though the family-owned dealership is open to the public again it’s actually worried about losing sales because others are now open too.

“We can tell it’s slowed down here the last couple of weeks,” says Prater.

As with many businesses, there are also new rules to follow here if you want to buy a car like only one customer in at a time, solo test drives and all employees must wear masks.

One furloughed employee was able to return to work Monday.

They’re ready. Now, Rayyan and Flannery wait to see if customers return.

“We want to survive as a business and we definitely want to be compassionate towards everybody and just kind of play it safe. I’m there for everybody to do things the best that I can,” says Flanery.

For more information on Flanery’s photography, click here.

For more on Rayyan Auto Sales, click here.