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Small businesses in Port Moody are pulling together to help one another get through the economic challenges and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taryn Barker, the president of the city’s Shop Local group, said independent businesses are buying from each other and sharing information when it comes to dealing with banks and landlords as well as new ways of conducting sales to ensure the safety of staff and customers.
Barker said her team at The Little Butcher shop in NewPort Village is getting its lunches from nearby restaurants doing takeout, coffee and treats from Gabi & Jules Bakery, juice from Squish Juicery. She added some businesses are also trying to co-ordinate plans for home deliveries and curbside pickups to increase efficiency.
“We’re figuring out what every business can do,” she said. “It’s still incredibly stressful.”
To relieve some of the stress and ease the concerns of her staff about dealing with the public, Barker said she has adjusted her shop’s hours so it opens only every other day. That gives her butchers an opportunity to process and prep orders for pick-up. She has also segmented the floor with tape so customers entering the shop can follow social distancing guidelines and numbered squares have been taped and chalked on the sidewalk out front to space anyone waiting to enter.
The entire procedure has been outlined in a short video posted to the Little Butcher’s Facebook page. Barker said it was the somewhat punchy product of a very long 15-hour day, but it has been effective in getting the social distancing message across to customers.
“I don’t think we intended it to be funny,” she said. “We were all a little tired.”
Read more of our COVID-19 coverage here.
