Sports store feels pinch caused by COVID restrictions, others not so much

A quick sampling of Sault downtown business owners Wednesday shows they are anywhere from pleasantly surprised to very disappointed with time for Christmas shopping running out in the midst of new indoor capacity limits introduced by Algoma Public Health (APH).

COVID cases have soared in the Sault and Algoma region, with concerns running high over the Omicron variant.

COVID’s effect on the sports industry, from the amateur to professional levels, as well those who sell sports equipment, has been severe.

“It definitely has not been a normal December by any means,” said Steve Spina, Soo Source For Sports owner.

“It seems like sports have been impacted more than most other things with the restrictions they’ve put in place. No games, you can’t gather, so definitely our business has been impacted.”

Limits on how many people can gather inside a store is not the issue, but rather the ripple effect COVID restrictions on public gatherings have put on league sports and the sporting goods merchants that supply them, Spina said.

“There are still people coming in buying Christmas gifts, but we’re a 90 per cent hockey store. With no games, that obviously impacts people buying equipment for sports.”

“Obviously health is the priority, but we can’t seem to get ahead of this thing (COVID) with a new variant coming out…I just hope the number of cases goes down. The past couple of years has been a battle for sure,” Spina said.

The picture is a bit rosier for other downtown merchants, despite the restrictions.

“For us, business has still been okay. We’ve had to ask people to wait outside a bit each day, especially during the busier times of the day, but for the most part we haven’t seen it affect our business much at this point. We're finding our customers are very considerate of each other and giving each other space,” said Marion Marshall of Homespun Treasures, a popular gift and decor shop.

Marshall said the shop is allowing six customers in at a time.

“If people have to wait outside, it’s usually two to five minutes and everyone’s being very considerate.” 

“We’ve been lucky. We’ve been busy,” said Patricia Rodriguez, owner of Jorie’s Fine Clothing (a ladies apparel shop).   

“We’ve sold a lot of gifts and gift cards. I didn’t find anything unusual compared to last year. I was thinking people might be scared (to come in and shop), afraid of this new variant, but we were busy every day and we extended our hours.” 

No pandemic can keep people from buying food, especially Christmas fare.

“I don’t think customers are shying away,” said Lori Nowitski of the City Meat Market.

“They’re buying but they’re not buying as much, for a full Christmas dinner table, with the restrictions on indoor gatherings. The customer traffic flow is good. We had a lot of early shoppers. We’re getting fresh turkeys so the next couple of days will be very busy. We did sell out of turkeys earlier, which is fantastic.”

“I just really hope people realize how important it is right now to shop local. We have all our fellow business people in the downtown, and local restaurants really need our support (restaurant capacity now reduced by APH).”    

Nowitski said City Meat Market is sticking with the same five customer limit it has kept throughout the pandemic, offering in store service, curbside service and delivery during the last minute Christmas rush.

The federal government announced Wednesday that it will temporarily expand eligibility for COVID support programs for businesses and their employees to support them through new public health restrictions.

The regulations will run to Feb. 12, 2022, by which time it is hoped spread of the Omicron variant will have eased (though the variant has not, so far, been reported in the Sault and Algoma region by APH).

Earlier Wednesday, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce called on the federal government and the province to extend worker and employer benefits ravaged by COVID.

“Many businesses have suffered greatly throughout this crisis and continue to face unprecedented cash flow constraints and uncertainty as the impacts of the pandemic continue to hobble the economy,” the Chamber stated.