Plastic Sheeting Sales Boom As Companies Install Shields To Protect Workers, Customers

COSTA MESA (CBSLA) — A framing shop in Costa Mesa has changed gears and began making acrylic shields as the demand grows during the coronavirus pandemic.

In order to stay in business, Best Framing owner Medi Bendanna began to think outside the box.

Instead of frames, his employees began manufacturing see-through acrylic shields.

"We just did the City Hall in Newport Beach, we did Pelican Hill Golf Course, we did my dentist's office, my insurance's office, we're doing small businesses, dividers. Everybody has different reasons why they need them," said Bendanna.

With demand for plastic/acrylic shields at an all-time high, getting ahold of the product is a challenge. Bendanna had ordered a few pallets of the material before the rush.

"Right now if I order today, I can't get it until June 5, about three weeks out. My supplier said 'the discount I was giving you in the past, I won't be able to honor those,'" Bendanna said.

Over the weekend, Bendanna and his team designed a shield that can be expanded.

The new design is affordable and is sold right off the shelf. Each piece costs $75, which is how much it costs to buy the acrylic and manufacture it.

Best Framing lost 75 percent of its orders in the midst of the pandemic, but because the plexiglass business is essential, the store has been able to reopen.

Employees are back and sales are where they were a year ago.