Business is booming for Moose Jaw restaurants, hotels during Scotties

As the competition on the ice heats up, so is business for local companies in Moose Jaw.

The 2020 Scotties Tournament of Hearts has once again taken over the Friendly City, back again after a successful first go-around in 2015.

The Canadian women’s curling championship tournament brings athletes and fans from across the country to one place, meaning local restaurants, shops and hotels have seen an influx of new customers.

The rush has been so heavy, the Deja Vu Cafe had to do something it has never done before – open up shop on a stat holiday.

“We’re a fairly busy place so the wife and I like a break and it’s great to give the staff a break, but with the Scotties in town, we thought we’d better open up,” said Brandon Richardson, the owner of Deja Vu.

“We finally decided Sunday at 4:30 (p.m.) that we were going to open up the next day so we asked all the staff, ‘Who would like to come in?’ and all of them said yes.

“We opened up and we were busy from open to close. I believe we had lineups at least 30 (or) 40 people deep.”

Richardson said the 2020 version of the Scotties has been even more successful than in 2015.

“We couldn’t remember how busy it was (in 2015) but then we went through old records and found it — it was busy and this year the numbers are up quite a bit more,” Richardson said. “I can’t even say how many customers we’ve had. It has just been non-stop basically from open to close.

“On Sundays, we usually open up at noon (but last Sunday) we actually opened up at 10 after 11. We were full to capacity with a lineup by 11:30.”

Richardson said one of the reasons his restaurant has seen an even higher bump in business is because the city and other organizations did a great job of advertising their downtown district this time around.

“Everyone came together and got more involved and it seems like there’s lots on social media about people decorating their places up, people welcoming all the fans and the curlers,” Richardson said. “Local’s the way to go. You need the small guys to bring people into a town and then they can experience something different.”

Hotel rooms in the city also went quickly after it was announced in October of 2018 that the Scotties was returning this year.

“We had two groups — which actually turned into three groups — which booked up the lion’s share of our hotel right at the get-go before we even got some curling fans looking for a room for that night,” said David Wood, the general manager of the Temple Gardens Hotel and Spa.

Wood said it’s not unusual for the hotel to be full on weekends, but during the week can be a different story.

“That would definitely be a once- or twice-a-year thing,” he said.

The hotel has 181 rooms and averages just over two people to each room. Wood anticipates it has around 400 people staying there every day while the Scotties are on.

Wood believes the success of events like the Scotties comes from how the community embraces everything.

“What I often say is Moose Jaw often struggles to get an event for the first time, (but) we very rarely struggle to get them back,” Wood said. “I’m not sure everywhere (the Scotties) go, whether (business owners) paint their windows for (the Scotties) or everything, but it is a very warm embrace for the event and I’m certain they will look back fondly on this.”

And the message to the members of Wood’s staff was simple as they prepared for the Scotties.

“ ‘This is going to be a great week. Let’s make sure that we all make the most of it and then afterwards we can all take a week off if we need to,’ ” Wood said.

The Scotties run until Sunday.