Sundance Shoes owner works to keep business alive amid COVID-19 pandemic

Owner uses social media

BIRMINGHAM, Mich. – For small business owners to survive through the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak they’ve got to adapt.

Katie Ray Johnston owns Sundance Shoes in West Bloomfield and Birmingham. She said she’s afraid if she stops working she’ll lose the business she built. She learned the shoe business from her father.

“As soon as I could walk and talk I was working in the shoe stores with my dad,” Johnston said.

Since mid-March, coronavirus and state orders mandate that her shops can’t be open. Trying to save her business he turned to Instagram. Every day she does a live video.

READ: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer extends stay-at-home order until May 28

Her 24 employees aren’t working. So, it’s just her -- hustling curbside pick up for a business that is now picking up.

MORE: Detroit salon owner struggles to pay rent during coronavirus outbreak

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