After a spike in the number of positive COVID-19 cases across the state, Governor Abbott issued an executive order Friday morning forcing bars to shutdown once again.
After being open 36 days, bar owners across the state thought things were finally starting to turn around.
The Backyard Bar, Stage & Grill was getting ready for two major concerts with Aaron Watson scheduled to take the stage, but that's all changed.
"When we got the news this morning, the concert bus was pulling up at 11 o'clock and so they just rolled on through. We were getting all the tables out and setting up chairs to make sure we were socially distant, and now we're like everybody else. What do we do now?" said owner Chris Cox.
After being closed for two months, Sean's Pub owner Robert Wieland invested in major renovations, but now they are back to square one.
"When we first did the remodel, we thought we could put a little bit of money back into the place to give our customers a better facility, a more clean enviroment. We spent a lot of money on that. They don't understand that inventory, inventory we just restocked, now it's gonna go bad again," he said.
Employees and business owners are all asking the same question- what to do now?
"To not wake up the next day and have a job... how are they gonna feed their families? They don't think of that when their making decisions. This is their only income. It's going to be hard for them to survive now," said Wieland.
With no reopen date set, bar owners and employees are afraid of going through another two months with zero income.
"We don't know how long it's gonna last this time. We're afraid it's going to last longer than last time, and we're really upset that our business is one of the targeted businesses," said Cox.
While some bars offered to-go drinks during the shut down, many places just didn't make enough orders to pay the bills. So for now, the waiting game continues.
