No one’s under the impression this is going to save their year. It’s a step in the right direction, but it’s not as good as hearing ‘you can open,’ or ‘it’s now safe for customers to shop like they did before.’
Ryan Mallough, Canadian Federation of Independent Business, as curbside pickups expand,
It was a day billed as a grand sort-of reopening for Ontario retailers. But for Alison Fletcher, Monday felt like almost any other day over the past six weeks.
Fletcher was busy wrapping up packages customers of her Roncesvalles cookware store, Cookery, had ordered online or by phone for curbside pickup. They’d give her a quick call when they got close to the store, she’d go to the front door, place the bag on the ground, then retreat into the store. Only then would the customer pick up their bag.
“We’ve been doing this since late March.
“We had a couple of visits from bylaw inspectors. They told us that people had complained ‘Cookery’s open when they’re not supposed to be.’ They saw the way we’re doing things and said ‘you’re just fine,’ ” said Fletcher, who has been shuttling back and forth between Roncesvalles Avenue and her store near Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue.
On Monday, non-essential retailers with a street-front door were officially allowed by the Ontario government to offer curbside pickup for the first time since being closed in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many, like Fletcher, had been doing curbside business anyway.
Others decided not to open at all Monday and others who did open weren’t convinced it would make much of a difference.
Small retailers aren’t exactly jumping for joy just yet, said Ryan Mallough, Ontario regional director of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, of the curbside pickup expansion.
“No one’s under the impression this is going to save their year,” Mallough said.
“It’s a step in the right direction, but it’s not as good as hearing, ‘You can open,’ or, ‘It’s now safe for customers to shop like they did before.’ But I think everyone recognized something like this would be the first step,” Mallough said.
Kristen Voisey, owner of mixology haven Cocktail Emporium, on Queen Street West, like Fletcher, has been doing curbside pick up for weeks.
But she did noticed an uptick in orders for cocktail shakers, bitters, glassware and other items.
“It’s been great. We took a lot more orders yesterday for pickup today than we’ve been doing,” Voisey said.
“We’ve been doing curbside pickup for a while now. Some bylaw guys came by to check it out, and they said it was fine. I think even they were confused by what the rules were,” Voisey said.
Even with the uptick in orders, Voisey said it’s still just a fraction of what her three locations — the original on Queen Street West, a second shop in Kensington Market, and a small kiosk in the Union Station shopping concourse — would be bringing in.
“We’ve only got one of our three locations open, so it’s nowhere close to normal. It’s a ghost town at Union, so it really wouldn’t make any sense to have that open right now,” Voisey said.
While it’s not quite like trying on a new suit or dress, browsing for cocktail equipment is still something that most customers would like to do in person, Voisey said.
“When you’re getting glassware, or shakers, people want to be able to see it and hold it. And we normally have sample stations for all the bitters,” said Voisey, whose shops have cocktail ingredients from around the world. Hundreds of bitters, tinctures and syrups line the shelves. Dog groomer Andrew Bulloch’s store near Yonge Street and York Mills Road also remained open for curbside pickup of pet supplies. But the threat of a $100,000 fine made the decision to not accept any furry clients easy.
“Not a chance. I’m not risking it,” Bulloch said of resuming grooming services. “Probably 90 per cent of my revenue is usually grooming though, so this isn’t really doing much,” Bulloch said.
Mallough said that many retailers have been doing curbside pickup, adding it was likely against the law.
“That’s certainly been our understanding of it. But now they’re not risking a fine,” he said, adding the animal grooming is one exception.
“We checked with the province on that and they’ve been pretty clear that groomers aren’t part of it yet,” Mullough said.
Essential service retailers such as hardware stores and home improvement centres, which had been allowed to offer curbside pickup throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, this past weekend were allowed to let customers back inside.
At the Canadian Tire in Leaside Monday, Graham Cho was happy to walk out with a full cart of CO2 canisters for his SodaStream, a few bottles of hand sanitizer and some paint.
“You can’t really tell exactly what the colour is online,” Cho said as he returned to his car in the crowded parking lot.