MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A line stretching down the front of the building greeted Don and Britton DeWeese when they reopened the doors to Gibson's Donuts for the first time Friday morning, eight weeks after closing due to COVID-19.
A steady line of customers moved in out and quickly for to-go and curbside deliveries of the famous Gibson's donuts. Ten customers are allowed inside at a time, six feet apart, and only one customer per order is allowed in.
"I know it's time to reopen. It feels right. We talked about it. We didn't reopen May 5th like all the other restaurants because we wanted to see how it went," Britton DeWeese, who runs the shop with his father Don, said.
DeWeese said the decision to close was a hard one but ultimately he didn't feel comfortable working nor did his employees, and the drop of sales reflected the same for customers.
"I was worried about my dad. I kept asking my dad to stay home because he's over 70 and if you know my dad, he's not not coming to work," DeWeese said. "He's already told me, man if this is what retirement is like, I don't want nothing to do with it' and I'm like 'oh my god he's never going to retire," DeWeese joked.
Britton managed the floor and lines reminding customers to keep apart and only come in one person per order while Don manned the cash register.
Gibson's started taking pre-orders the night before but had to quickly shut it down after the orders became overwhelmingly high.
For the customers waiting in line for donuts before the sun came up, it wasn't just about their love of the donuts that has made Gibson's world-famous. One woman waiting in line, compared the feeling to Christmas morning.
For the younger DeWeese, reopening brought a lot of emotions. He said he felt overwhelming support to reopen but the one response that struck an emotional chord for him was a text message from his sister-in-law, a Memphis-native now living in Seattle and who is currently working the front line.
"She basically said that us reopening is giving Memphis hope that things are going to go back to normal. I read that text and it got me emotional," Britton DeWeese said through tears.
"I didn't realize how much it meant to me and the city until it was gone and the responses since I've made posts on social media, this week, the responses I'm getting, are, it's overwhelming. I'm sorry it just is. It's overwhelming but it's a good overwhelming. These are tears of joy."
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