LUBBOCK, Texas- A party rental store that opened in February was quickly forced to make drastic adjustments due to the COVID-19 shutdown, according to the owner.
Laura Nipper and her husband opened up their own party rental business called ‘El Compa Ivan’ in February. They set up shop at the National Flea Market so customers could view their products in person but they were forced to close their shop after the mandated shut down.
“When we opened, we were really excited,” said Nipper, “When we started getting the news about people starting to get quarantined, we were a little worried that we had spent so much money and invested so much money into a business that we might not be able to use this year.”
Due to the closure, they transitioned to doing online sales. Nipper said even though they’re a new and small business, they remained steadfast and stayed open.
“Our prices did go very, very low compared to other companies just because they’re not barbecues or big parties anymore, they’re for people that have a couple of kids at home that just need to blow off some steam,” she said.
She said these past two weeks she’s been renting more and more inflatables, which some parents say is a relief for their kids who have been forced to stay at home due to the pandemic.
“We just did that just for the kids to have some outside time, something outside of the house outside of gaming and stuff just to be free a little bit and get their mind off of not seeing their friends [and] being stuck indoors,” said customer Andrea Navarro.
Nipper said although these are uncertain times, she hopes other new businesses don’t lose hope.
“I would just say for first time business owners it is hard to take that leap but it’s well worth it,” she said,” it can be scary but if you work hard you’ll get through it.”
