Newcomers to Collingwood are ready to mind their own businesses.
While many local businesses are struggling, some opportunists are willing to take a risk on South Georgian Bay to open new enterprises in a move that can show the “polarizing” situation facing the small-business landscape in Collingwood, according to a local small-business advisor.
Tim Newton, manager at the Small Business Enterprise Centre in Collingwood, said the caseload at the SBEC has increased significantly over the past year since the COVID-19 pandemic started.
“We are 38 per cent up (in inquiries) from April to Dec. 2019 (compared to) April to Dec. 2020,” said Newton. “It’s amazing how many consultation requests we’re having from newcomers to the area.”
“It’s a very polarizing time where some businesses are doing extremely well, and other businesses are having an extremely hard time,” he said.
Anecdotally, Newton said the centre has seen many new businesses wanting to open in a bricks-and-mortar capacity.
“We are losing some businesses, but they are being backfilled by others who wish to seize, what they see as, an opportunity to start a new business in a town that is continuing to get busier,” he said. “There are opportunists that are willing to take a risk. It shows optimism in the future.”
Many of the new businesses opening in the area are in the technology sector, such as marketing, social media companies and high-tech applications for businesses.
“Those types of companies are often home-based, and we’ve seen a significant increase in the number of those types of businesses coming to us,” said Newton. “I had not anticipated that would be the case when so much of the conversation is about recovery and ‘hanging in there’ and survival of many of our businesses.”
There are a variety of pandemic relief funding programs available through the provincial and federal governments including:
- Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) interest-free loans
- Property Tax and Energy Bill Rebates
- Highly Affected Sectors Credit Availability Program (HASCAP) Guarantee
- Ontario's Main Street Relief Grant: PPE support
- Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS)
- Regional Relief and Recovery Fund (RRRF)
- Ontario Small Business Support Grant
- Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)
While Newton said he doesn’t have specific numbers concerning how many local businesses have applied to the various programs and their levels of success in receiving funding, he has heard some feedback from small business owners.
“The feedback we’ve received, for the most part, is that these programs have been well-designed and have been reasonably easy to apply for,” said Newton.
Newton acknowledges that there have been changes to the programs since some of them were first rolled out nearly a year ago, but it’s been his experience that those changes have been improvements.
For example, in the first iteration of the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy, it was the responsibility of the landlord to apply for the subsidy.
“If the landlord wasn’t willing to apply, the tenant was in a hard place. So, in the second iteration of that program, the tenants were allowed to make an application,” said Newton. “We’ve heard from a lot of businesses that the government has been really receptive.”
In the South Georgian Bay area, Newton says the Regional Relief and Recovery Fund has been “extremely successful.”
Newton notes the federal/provincial Digital Main Street program has also done a lot to help small businesses located in South Georgian Bay downtowns to expand their virtual offerings. The program has been so successful that although it was slated to end mid-March, the SBEC recently received word it would be extended into early June.
“It was a great need that allowed businesses to pivot toward a digital footprint. We’ve helped about 700 businesses throughout South Georgian Bay since the program started,” he said. “It’s fabulous news that we’ll be able to apply for funding to keep the Digital Service Squad working.”
The Small Business Enterprise Centre is currently operating virtually or by phone. For more information or to book a consultation for support, click here.
