Community support crucial for local businesses during pandemic: Regina chamber

With businesses struggling, John Hopkins is hoping Regina residents can help find ways to support local businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Regina and District Chamber of Commerce CEO was on 980 CJME’s Greg Morgan Morning Show this past week to discuss business but first wanted to get out an important message.

“First and foremost, we need to make sure that people are safe — and this pandemic has killed 16,000 people (worldwide),” Hopkins said. “That’s a lot of people that have died because of this and we need to make sure that people are safe.”

Businesses, both old and new, have been taking a hit as the Government of Saskatchewan implements its restrictions to try and reduce the spread of COVID-19. This includes having many businesses that are deemed “non-essential” close and reducing public gatherings to a maximum of 10 people.

In order to help businesses as they deal with uncharted waters, both the province and Ottawa have pledged support for them.

But Hopkins admitted it might not be enough due to the unique circumstances of the current pandemic.

“The city and the province are doing what they think is in their best interests, as well as the (federal government), but here’s our sort of position on some of this — it’s great to have deferrals and put things off and extend the tax deadlines and all of that, but at the end of the day for businesses, if you don’t have customers and you don’t have money coming in or cash flow, then none of that really matters,” Hopkins said.

And one of the ways people can help businesses, especially restaurants, is to find ways to still shop locally.

“We’re out there trying to encourage people to continue to support their local businesses and there’s a number of ways you can do that,” Hopkins said.

“In terms of some of the restaurants that have been shuttered, those businesses are closed in a lot of cases to the public (but) you can do some drive-thru, some ordering in, some pickup. That’s a way you can support some of these restaurants. They’re hurting and I’m not going to sugar-coat anything: These businesses are hurting and need the support of the community.”

Hopkins said people can also support local businesses during these times by buying gift cards or scheduling appointments for sometime in the future.