Small businesses have been some of the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, with many having to pivot or reinvent their business models just to keep the lights on.
“I had 80 per cent of my clients postponed their orders to 2021, and one additional cancellation,” said Rachel Kwan, owner and operator of Euclid Design Co., a floral design shop located in Kimberley.
Kwan launched her business in Toronto in 2017, which began with building copper backdrops for weddings and special events.
Since that time she and her husband moved to Kimberley and established a storefront.
With a new business on her hands, Kwan was making great strides in building clientele and a solid reputation for creating unique floral arrangements for weddings.
“I was looking forward to my second full-time year, fully based in Grey starting in May,” she said. “I thought 2020 is going to be a great year. I had a certain number of clients and was really looking forward to surpassing my goals for the year. And then, of course, events and everything deflated like a tired balloon in March.”
The wedding and event industry has had a rough year with most having to cancel or postpone events to keep pace with pandemic restrictions.
Kwan’s once busy 2020 wedding season quickly diminished.
Frances Beatty, also a Kimberley resident and owner and operator of Frances Beatty Photography has also felt the impact of event cancellations.
“My business is primarily weddings, everything was basically put on pause. I'm still in the office Monday to Friday to support my clients and work with them to find ways to navigate planning a wedding during a pandemic, but my income has been cut by at least 75 per cent. All of my couples except for two decided to postpone their weddings by an entire year,” Beatty said.
In a different industry, down the way from Kimberley, Kate Civiero, owner and operator of Infinite Glassworks, a glassblowing studio located beside Eugenia Falls, is another small business feeling the weight of the pandemic closures.
“Before the pandemic, I spent a significant amount of time teaching glassblowing and metalsmithing classes in my studio. When the pandemic hit, I immediately shut down classes, which meant a large reduction in my income stream for 2020,” Civiero explained.
Along with offering classes, Infinite Glassworks also specializes in functional hand-blown glassware and home goods –something Civiero has increased in place of her in-studio offerings.
“Luckily, as a small business owner I have always had multiple avenues for income, and I was able to focus more on custom orders, wholesale and direct-to-customer retail sales,” she added.
In Thornbury, Dave Smith, owner and operator of the Thornbury Bakery Cafe, a staple in the community since 1901, says his business is also feeling the squeeze from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our sales are constantly down comparatively to last year and we need government programs to help us continually make up lost sales while trying to keep our staff safe and employed,” said Smith, who has owned the bakery since 2008.
Like many other businesses and individuals across the country, at the onset of the pandemic, these four local business owners applied to various government programs to help assist them through a year filled with restrictions, closures and reduced revenue.
Smith, Civiero, Beatty and Kwan were all successful in their applications to Grey County’s COVID-19 small business recovery program offered through the Grey County Business Enterprise Centre.
“COVID-19 is having a dramatic impact on many newer, small businesses. The Starter Company Plus (SCP) Recovery Program assists small businesses that have been in operation for one to five years and find themselves with unexpected reopening costs. These could be expenses related to physical changes or business model changes,” explained Courtney Miller, manager of the Grey County Businesses Enterprise Centre.
The SCP Recovery Program is funded by Grey County and the Province of Ontario.
Applications for the program were open in July, where the county received more than 80 applications for the program, with the highest number coming from the tourism and retail sectors.
Through the SCP program, 45 small businesses across the county’s nine municipalities received $2,500 grants to assist in pivoting business models to create resilience during the pandemic.
In order to be eligible for the grants the business must have been in operation in Grey County for one-to-five years, have 50 or fewer employees and have been directly impacted by COVID-19.
“Common uses for the grant funding were physical modifications to stores or offices, development of marketing material, website and e-commerce sites and the purchase of PPE for staff and clients,” said Savanna Myers, director of economic development, tourism and culture for Grey County. “Some participants were also able to use the funding received through the SCP Recovery Program to leverage additional funding through programs such as those offered by RT07, allowing them to execute further recovery plans.”
Smith says, at the Thornbury Bakery Cafe, the grant funds were used to create a patio space.
“We used the funds to create a socially distanced patio, which helped give patrons a place to enjoy our takeout offerings,” he said.
In addition to funding, participating businesses were also required to participate in business-focused webinars, which offered topics such as recovery cash flow forecasting, public health guidelines for reopening, and digital marketing.
“It is always good in times like these to even get reassurance that we are doing the right things,” Smith added. “The two webinars just help reinforce the proper business practices to keep our doors open and our staff safe. Not necessarily anything new, just nice to know.”
The program also offered business owners the opportunity to meet with a local mentor or business advisor.
“Staff are keenly aware that small businesses who receive mentorship support are twice as likely to succeed as those who do not, which is why, specifically in a climate such as this, professional support is as important as financial support,” Myers added.
“I was paired up with a local artist and, and very business-savvy lady named Heather Travis ... she's awesome,” Kwan said.
“Our conversation was very wide-ranging. We went in many different directions and on a variety of different tangents because I had never spoken to a business coach before. It was amazing to be able to access a resource in the form of a person who actually did very much care about where I was, where my business is and who I am as an entrepreneur,” Kwan continued.
Kwan says she used the grant funds to make the required capital investments to shift her floral design business from serving large events to offering custom orders.
“The county and the province stepping in to run this program and provide these resources allowed my business to survive and enabled me to offer services in a way that I hadn't before,” she said.
The funds Kwan acquired through the recovery program, along with some of her own funds, allowed her to purchase a floral cooler and staging workbench.
“To be honest, I would not have moved in a direction of retail or providing these kinds of things if the pandemic had not happened,” she added. “For me to be able to commit to retail, it's helping my business to survive. Now I have the ability to store flowers for a little bit longer with the floral cooler and also have a dedicated space for packaging everything," Kwan said.
Kwan adds that while the retail operations are allowing her to continue to operate, the revenue is not exactly comparable to the high-volume events she would normally be servicing.
“It is keeping the lights for the business on, which is important, because if I can't keep the lights on for the business, then I can't fulfil all of my contracts for events in the future,” she said. “I remain hopeful that my business will survive, which I do believe it will."
For Beatty and her photography business, the SCP allowed her to pivot her business model and launch into the world of digital marketing.
“I have been educating myself on digital marketing and SEO tactics in order to help guide my business into a model that supports more portraits and other avenues in photography, rather than focusing just on weddings. These skills have been absolutely crucial and so beneficial in working on other side projects like teaching workshops, selling art prints, helping other creatives with their businesses, and social media management,” she explained.
“It's also helped me gain confidence in knowing that I have some control over how my business can move forward in a new direction, while also knowing these skills will be applicable to the original business model once weddings and large events are allowed to take place again,” said Beatty.
She adds that the webinars offered through the program also allowed her to implement some new systems that will allow her to be more productive.
“I think that was especially crucial right now considering it's been quite the juggle to try to keep a successful business rolling, to find a way to have some income coming in, navigating a pivot in business, all while trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy in this very irregular time,” Beatty added.
For Civiero and her art studio in Eugenia, the grant program allowed her to market her products to a wider audience of handmade enthusiasts.
“I allocated funds from the SCP to re-brand my business with a graphic designer, hire a professional videographer and a photographer to create digital assets, and launch a social media advertising campaign to specifically market my target audience,” Civiero explained. “These initiatives increased online sales through my website and also attracted new wholesale clients who carry my product.”
Civiero says she also took advantage of the webinars offered through the program and found them both helpful and relevant.
“While there have been many negatives with the pandemic, there have been many positives too," Civiero said. "There has been a noticeable shift in consumer spending toward buying local, buying handmade and buying independent. I have seen this firsthand with my own customer base, and also have been hearing it from the stores and galleries that carry my glasswork throughout Ontario."
Kwan says she too has felt the community embrace the idea of buying local and hopes it will continue through the holiday season as local business owners need the support now more than ever.
“I have been blown away just by how supportive people have been,” Kwan said. “We all know that if we don't buy locally, there might not be local businesses to support after this holiday season.”
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