Earlier this week our governor and neighbor through the alleyway, JB Pritzker issued a detailed 5-phase plan to re-opening the state following the spread of the pandemic, called “Restore Illinois.” The full plan can be found right here on the state’s coronavirus response website.

Out of these 5-phases, we are currently on phase 2, and switched over to that phase at the start of this month. What does phase 2 mean for our store and venue space? Just that we are officially able to do deliveries and curbside pickup for orders as a non-essential business, which we are currently doing.

Phase 3 is the next phase, and that happens once the number of coronavirus cases has been stable or declining. For us, this phase means non-essential retail shops (our record store) can open back up. The earliest this phase can happen is May 29th. Also in this phase gatherings of people are limited to no more than 10. (So, we would also probably limit the number of people in our store to that).

Phase 4 happens when the number of patients being admitted to hospitals continues to decline. It is looking like the earliest this phase may happen right now is the end of June. That is when bars and sit-down dining in restaurants can open back up. Gatherings of 50 or fewer people are permitted at that point.

Phase 5 is the last phase and that only happens once there is a vaccine or highly effective treatment available. It’s very unclear how far off that may be. Once we are at this phase we can finally officially have live music events or festivals with no restrictions on gatherings of people.

While this mapping out of phases is a good thing to have, and gives us a look at what we have to look forward to – we are still going to make careful consideration on re-opening our store and venue on our own after each phase is hit. Wether or not we can “technically” have shows might be in question once we are in phase 4, but it might be safest for us to wait until we are in phase 5 to make that call ourselves. These are still uncertain times for us, and we want to make the best decisions we can moving forward with safety in mind.