Regina’s Centennial Market to reopen Saturday

Saskatchewan’s largest indoor market is opening up for business.

Centennial Market in Regina is to reopen Saturday. It had to shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and is now allowed to resume business as part of Phase 2 of the Re-Open Saskatchewan plan.

Store operators will have to follow rules regarding heightened cleaning, physical distancing markers, and hand-washing stations at both entrances. In addition to those, only 250 customers will be allowed inside the building at any time.

Face masks are recommended for business owners and customers, but will not be mandatory.

While there are many rules and regulations, Centennial’s owners are optimistic they’ll be able to get back to business in a safe way.

Sandra Klein, a board member, trusts in the various local businesses set up in the market.

“I don’t know that there are any challenges, because each booth is going to make sure and monitor themselves how many people are in their booth at one time, making sure they’re wiping down their counters, (and there’s) hand sanitizer available at the entrances,” she said.

Despite the trouble many businesses have faced from the pandemic, those at the market have actually seen some good from the time off. Dave Bychkowsky, the president of the board, said it gave them a chance to get some work done.

“It has actually been a blessing to us in disguise, because we wanted to make a lot of changes. We recently elected a new board of directors, so we had a lot of stuff to do … so it has really given us time to get prepared for everybody to come in,” he explained.

That included the installation of a new ramp, as well as painting, drywalling, and other maintenance jobs.

“It’s an old building and we’re trying to make it look as good as we can,” Klein said.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Britton Gray