North Bay businesses are optimistic about what the future holds as the COVID-19 pandemic approaches its first anniversary.
It comes as businesses in the city have been permitted to reopen with certain restrictions in place as part of the province’s COVID-19 framework.
“I’m just trying to look at it positively. I was hoping for a yellow or even an orange to put some more people in here,” commented Ryan Ivy, owner of Lou Dawg’s restaurant downtown.
Under the red-control guidelines laid out by the province, indoor dining is capped at a maximum of 10 people, with up to four people per table.
Ivy says he’s hopeful the region will continue to move down the province’s colour-coded system, which will gradually allow more restaurant capacity.
“When we open up the doors again, there’s going to be a want for people to go out and listen to live music and sit at a table with friends,” he said. “I’m not worried about our rebound, it’ll happen eventually.”
Ivy adds takeout service has allowed his business to make some money while indoor dining was prohibited for over two months.
Other stores, however, were not able to operate quite the same way during the lockdown.
Pat Kenzie-Diegel, the owner of Deegan’s Antiques on Main Street, says she was able to do some curbside pickup during the lockdown, but much of her business relies on foot traffic.
“We enjoy the conversation with our customers,” Kenzie-Diegel noted. “For us, it’s important to have customers both for buying and selling.”
Despite that, Kenzie-Diegel did not lay off any staff nor did she tap into any government funding available.
“Generally speaking, we’re fortunate. We weathered the storm quite well,” she said.
Looking ahead, the business-owner of 21 years knows there will always be a market for her shop.
“If people are still wanting things, we’ll be just fine,” Kenzie-Diegel said.
A couple of doors down, The Abbey Cards & Gifts was completely shuttered since December 26, just reopening on Monday.
Tom Lyle, owner of the shop, says curbside pickup was not an option for his business due to insurance concerns.
“It was a hard two months sitting at home,” he said.
Now that his store is able to open, Lyle says it brings feelings of both hope and concern.
“We’ve never done this before,” he said. “You just have to bravely move ahead to get things back to the way they were.”
Lyle, who also relies on foot traffic in his store, remains hopeful this week marks the start of a prosperous future.
“There’s money flowing into the different cracks in the economy and sooner or later…that will get things going again,” he noted.
March 11 will be the National Day of Observation to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization’s declaration of a global pandemic.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the day will give people time to reflect on the significant impacts Canadians have felt from the virus.
“All Canadians have experienced sacrifice and loss over the past year. Our kids have missed birthday parties, seniors have felt isolated from the ones they love, and for far too many, this virus has meant the loss of their job or the closure of their business,” said the Prime Minister.
