‘Full Speed Ahead’: Officials React to California’s Planned Reopening

Customers enter the South Coast Plaza shopping mall on the first day of reopening following a shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Costa Mesa, Calif., on Aug. 31, 2020. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

A small business watchdog is encouraging Orange County residents to support locally owned shops in droves when California lifts its COVID-19 restrictions in June.

“We’re excited about the reopening, and we’re encouraging as many Californians to get out there and shop at your local toy store, restaurant, auto shop, café,” John Kabateck, California director of the National Federation of Independent Business, told The Epoch Times.