Regina small businesses still impacted by pandemic
Small businesses in the city are still dealing with the fall out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chris Plumb, owner of Mercury Cafe and Grill, said the pandemic has been tough on business, with the diner generating enough money to keep the employees paid.
“The first year was fine, and then the second time around it wasn’t quite as good and now we’re in the third time around and it’s awful,” said Plumb.
Feeling like he had no where else to turn, Plumb made a plea to the community on social media.
“That’s who has supported us 12 years in business now almost, so I’ve got to turn to them and hope they come out and I mean people have been supportive,” said Plumb.
The diner has already seen an impact from the post, with a little bit of a lunch rush on Wednesday afternoon, which gives him hope the local diner can survive.
Plumb said local support is what’s needed right now, the Green Spot Cafe is relying on customer support right now as well.
“It’s been pretty tough, as you know, for all businesses, but we try our best to keep going and we’ve got really good customers and they support us,” said Sunshine Cheang, owner of the Green Spot Cafe.
The Green Spot, located in Agriculture Place, is celebrating 15 years if business in the Queen City, Cheang is looking forward to things starting to get back to normal.
“The tower people are coming back and they’re all excited to be here and they’re all really happy to see us and support us,” said Cheang.
Plumb dreams of the day when the pandemic is over and people flood to restaurants and bars, reminiscent of the end of the Spanish Flu pandemic, but for now, said everyone needs to support small businesses during these hard times.
“Whether it’s here or at another cafe or another restaurant or another store or anything, stay local as much as you can right now, it’s really important,” said Plumb.
Janis Procyk, owner of Brick and Mortar, said there was a big push for shopping local last fall, but added sales were down this Christmas season.
She said moving to a better location has helped them stay afloat, but they are also working on building a customer loyalty base.
“I think we’ll be okay and we’ll figure it out,” said Procyk, “It’s kind of a perpetual wheel of nothing is ordinary and you’re just constantly straining your brain and trying to do absolutely anything to keep the doors open.”
Opening the shop in the fall of 2019, it has been a hard few years for Brick and Mortar and for all small businesses.
Procyk said there is a common mentality of people being stressed out and fed up with the pandemic.
“It would be nice if people could kind of have some compassion, or show a little bit more forgiveness for their small businesses and just lean on them and help them out more than they necessarily generally would."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
Half of Canadians have negative opinion of latest Liberal budget: poll
A new poll suggests the Liberals have not won over voters with their latest budget, though there is broad support for their plan to build millions of homes.
opinion Why you should protect your investments by naming a trusted contact person
Appointing a trusted person to help with financial obligations can give you peace of mind. In his personal finance column for CTVNews.ca, Christopher Liew outlines the key benefits of naming a confidant to take over your financial responsibilities, if the need ever arises.
Teacher shortages see some Ontario high school students awarded perfect grades on midterm exams
Students at a high school in York Region have been awarded perfect marks on their midterm exams in three subjects – not because of their academic performances however, but because they had no teacher.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
Ottawa injects another $36M into vaccine injury compensation fund
The federal government has added $36.4 million to a program designed to support people who have been seriously injured or killed by vaccines since the end of 2020.
Photographer alleges he was forced to watch Megan Thee Stallion have sex and was unfairly fired
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
An Ontario senior thought he called Geek Squad for help with his printer. Instead, he got scammed out of $25,000
An Ontario senior’s attempt to get technical help online led him into a spoofing scam where he lost $25,000. Now, he’s sharing his story to warn others.
Her fiance has been in prison for 49 years. She's trying to free him before it’s too late
She was lying in bed on a Thursday morning, thinking about the man she loved, hoping to win his freedom before time ran out.