When the provincial government declared all non-essential businesses in the province had to close to the public on March 25, local business owners in Moose Jaw were left to quickly brainstorm new ways of doing business that would keep their doors open despite being physically closed.
Restaurants adapted relatively quickly, after being one of the first industries to face limiting pandemic measures. Most moved to a pick-up and delivery model that other retail businesses soon adopted.
The phrase “curbside pick-up” has become more common than ever, and many business owners are now spending their days with a skeleton staff in their storefronts, answering phone orders and doing their best to keep customers happy and connected.
From local delivery to taking things online, Moose Jaw businesses have found some creative ways of adjusting their services now that customers are no longer allowed in their storefront.
Each business is doing something a little different, and every business owner is hoping that the provincial government will have some good news for them soon.
Clothes Encounter missing encounters with customers
For owner Rick Klein at Clothes Encounter, the pandemic closure left him and his staff working frantically to build a website for the well-known clothing store.
“It was a lot of work, a lot of frustration, just knowing how to do it and getting a handle on it,” said Klein.
Klein wouldn’t have pursued an online presence for his business if it weren’t for the pandemic, but he wanted to be sure that customers still had access to Clothes Encounter’s merchandise.
Since launching the website, Klein feels like customers are both enjoying the at-a-distance service and also missing the ability to shop in person. He said that rural customers now have the ability to ship things to their homes, but lots of local customers are still calling the store to ask more questions about items they’re interested in.
Online sales can be tough for clothing retail, said Klein, because lots of customers want to try sizes on or pair an item with an outfit, or maybe aren’t online savvy in the first place.
“It's probably been a new thing for our customers, to learn how to do this too,” said Klein. “It's sort of hard taking a local consumer who comes into the store every day, who maybe don't even know what size they are but we could help them [and now] they go onto the site and they're lost.”
And while he’s seen plenty of engagement with the website so far, Klein is still expecting to see a notable dip in revenue because of the situation and hopes that Clothes Encounter can reopen it's doors soon.
“We're hoping that in the near future, we'll be able to have an open sign on even if it's just limited to a few people at a time,” said Klein.
Clothes Encounter can be reached at 1 (306) 693-7766 for local purchases and curbside pickup, or customers can purchase goods online at clothesencounter.ca for shipped delivery.
Prairie Bee Meadery has a selection of products that Moose Jaw customers can have delivered as a wine-o-gram while the downtown storefront is closed, complete with a personalized message. Prairie Bee Meadery offering wine-o-grams
Prairie Bee Meadery is also missing having customers in their storefront, where they feature locally sourced products and their own Moose Jaw-brewed range of flavoured meads.
While the meadery was not actually mandated to close, the sharp decrease in foot traffic made co-owners Crystal Milburn and Vicki Derksen decide to close the storefront anyways, which meant they had to come up with a different way to share Prairie Bee’s products.
Prairie Bee Meadery is now offering what it’s calling wine-o-grams: doorstep delivery of any bottle of Praire Bee product with a personalized message, to any address in the city for an extra $5. Milburn is also delivering wine-o-grams to Regina three days a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
Delivery is not something Prairie Bee Meadery did before the pandemic, said Milburn, although they were licensed. She feels that the interest in having specialty wine delivered has been more or less tied to people’s current isolation.
“People seem to want to do something for somebody else,” said Milburn. “And it's been really nice for us too, doing the deliveries, where we can see people happy and excited about something unexpected.”
Prairie Bee Meadery has also had to put most of its retail staff on hold for the time being, as there are no farmer’s markets or trade shows to travel to right now. Milburn has certainly had to adjust her sales expectations to reflect the change in foot traffic to her storefront.
“It hasn’t been huge, it hasn't necessarily replaced our usual expected retail traffic, but it's something. It's better than nothing, which is what we were at,” said Milburn. “We're trying to be optimistic about the future, and we're looking forward to summer or a time when things can get back to something a little more normal."
Prairie Bee Meadery can be contacted at 1 (306) 313-7817 or through Facebook to order a wine-o-gram delivery.
Rosie’s planning to reconvene in future
Rosie’s on River Street has also made some pretty significant adjustments, even before the province’s mandates closed the restaurant’s doors to the public.
Owners Chris Schubert and Zach Schutte decided to flip the switch on Rosie’s open sign early in the shutdown, closing up their dining room entirely on March 22 with a promise to work on a new and exciting menu for the restaurant’s return in the summer.
With the kitchen shut down but messages from regulars still asking how they can help, the popular restaurant decided to take a different approach to keep itself afloat in the meantime.
While Rosie’s does offer gift cards, Schubert thought it would be more fun for patrons to pre-purchase pints of Saskatchewan-brewed beer to enjoy when Rosie’s reopens in the future.
Schubert has seen lots of engagement with the idea already, with many buying pints for friends instead of themselves — which has extended to Rosie’s other pandemic project, selling branded Rosie’s clothing.
“We just had this time to think about things, like what would we sell that isn't food or drink,” said Schubert. “ And there seemed to be a lot of sentiment from people looking to buy something to give somebody, so that's where that idea came from.”
Rosie’s has always had t-shirts, tank tops, and hats featuring their logo available for purchase, but the pandemic closure and public interest prompted Schubert to ramp up production of new items like hoodies to help fill the gap in business.
Both ideas are certainly helping Rosie’s handle their overhead costs while staff can’t be serving food like usual, said Schubert, although it’s not quite the same compared to the restaurant’s usual revenue.
“We shut down just because, logistically, it was kind of tough for us [and] hard to wrap our head around,” said Schubert. “[But] I wouldn't think our situation's too unique to any other place.”
Schubert is forecasting that Rosie’s might have to open back up for take-out in the future, if the provincial government doesn’t lift closure mandates soon, but for now, the restaurant is taking it slow.
“We're just adjusting on the fly and following information as it comes out so we can adjust accordingly,” said Schubert.
Rosie’s on River Street can be contacted via Facebook or by emailing rosiesonriver@gmail.com for both pre-purchasing pints and Rosie’s merchandise, which can be delivered locally.
