Regina’s shop preparing to re-open as Saskatchewan to start lifting COVID-19 restrictions

Some businesses in Saskatchewan are getting ready to open their doors to customers once again.

After weeks of restrictions imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19, the Government of Saskatchewan has announced a five-phase plan to begin opening businesses.

On May 4, other healthcare offices, such as dentists, will be allowed to be opened once again. On May 19, some retail businesses and personal services will be able to open.

In Regina, Dutch Growers’ Karen van Duyvendyk said gardening centres weren’t actually restricted from being open, so the business has set a tentative opening date of May 1, with restrictions on how many customers can be inside.

“The amount of volume that we can do online is minimal compared to what we would see to traffic flow in person. Our biggest season (May and June) is it for gardening,” van Duyvendyk said.

“It kind of seemed a little unfair that they could go to Wal-Mart and get products but they couldn’t come to us throughout this whole thing. We know that our customer base is extremely loyal and they’re rooting for us and want the best for our business as well.”

She said the other parts of their shop – fashion and gifts – will not be able to open until the May 19th date.

According to van Duyvendyk, there are still some concerns about opening up shop during the pandemic.

“It is also a little scary for retailers who come into direct contact with customers. There’s a lot of things that we have to put into place before we’re comfortable opening and before we feel our staff is safe.”

In order to keep business going while their physical location was closed, Dutch Growers relied on online sales.

“We have been doing online for a couple years now but never at the pace and volume that we are doing it at right now. Basically what we are doing right now is hand-shopping for each customer and it’s incredibly time consuming and it’s hard. I will never again complain about a fast food order being wrong because it is really tough to get these orders filled correctly. It’s harder than you think,” van Duyvendyk said.

“It is my preference as a customer to continue to shop online and have contact free pick-up so we’re going to continue with that into the foreseeable future but we will be open for that physical shopping experience for the month of May.”

She said it was important to open so that they can continue to employ all of their current employees and not lay anyone off.

“Spring is a rebirth season as it is so we’re just grateful that the people of Saskatchewan really committed to staying home when they needed to and flattening the curve so that businesses like mine can get back at it again and hopefully come out of this season stronger.”