Bradley's Jewelers Partners with FGCU on Restart SWFL Economic Recovery Initiative

FGCU is announcing a partnership to help our local businesses get through this pandemic. An FGCU survey found that a quarter of Southwest Florida businesses have had to lay off 80% of their employees just in the past two months. NBC 2's Devin Turk joins us from Bradley's Jewelers in South Fort Myers with how this new partnership works.

COVID has completely changed the way we shop. If you want to come here to Bradley's Jewelers, first you need to put your mask on; then when you come inside the store here you'll be the only ones allowed in. Check this out, this is the entire showroom. They're closing off much of the store to keep people safe. It's just some of the measures they're taking to make customers feel comfortable.

Bradley's Jewelers is one of the first businesses to participate in FGCU's Restart Southwest Florida Economic Recovery Initiative. First, businesses will take a pledge saying they'll meet or exceed CDC guidelines for public health practices, monitor customer and employee concerns, charge fair market prices, and apply sound ethical principles. They'll then take place in two web-based discussions the university is offering for free. They'll then get their Restart Southwest Florida Seal of Confidence to help put customers at ease. They're hoping other businesses sign up.

If it encourages people in the business sector to do better, it will encourage the clients to come out and feel comfortable.

And if you're a business that also wants to get involved with the Restart Southwest Florida pledge, you can do that on the NBC 2 news app. Reporting from Fort Myers, Devin Turk, NBC 2.