HUNTSVILLE, Ala – Several business owners say with each public health order, their customer base has shrunk, week after week.

Howard Brock, the owner of Lucky Dice Cafe says he supports the stay at home order. However, he’s been forced to lay his employees off and greatly scale back the cafe’s hours.

On Tuesday, he experienced a first, one of many to come since COVID-19. Brock experienced his first day without a single customer.

“At the end of the day we still have to pay bills. When you look at a day when you did nothing and you realize that you’ve been open for 3-years and that’s never come close to happening. It’s stunning at first,” said Brock.

Lucky Dice Cafe is part eatery, part game shop. They are normally open from sun up to well past sundown. With less traffic inside, Brock has started some renovations. He hopes to surprise his patrons when they return.

“This is the only thing that I’ve ever loved that I do. I come in here every day with joy,” said Brock.

Brock and just about every business that is still open, has started to get creative. Relegated to pickup and delivery orders, the games are still available.

“We work with Grub South. They’ve been great with us. We put board games on their menu . To make that work we reduced our price on the games by 20 percent to help cover Grub South’s fee,” said Brock.

After Brock posted about not having any customers Tuesday, his faithful customers were sure to show they cared, Wednesday. Brock says he misses all the groups who come to Lucky Dice to play their weekly games.

It’s those same patrons who have donated money to employees, purchased gift cards, you name it.

“We’ve had people just do incredible things. I’m humbled,” said Brock.

You can order food, games and beer from the Lucky Dice Cafe website or on Grub South.