How Aylmer businesses cope with COVID-19

With COVID-19 making its way to the region – essentially trapping the population in complete self-isolation – the economic impact of the pandemic has been arguably as significant a topic as its social devastation.

In an interview with the Aylmer Bulletin, Mayor of Gatineau Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin stressed the importance of buying locally, now more than ever before, considering the economic ramifications on small businesses across the city.

For the owner of Exotika Tattoo shop and Blades & Bourbon barber shop in Aylmer, Chris Leblanc, the closure of his two businesses has left him and several of his employees in the lurch.

On March 23, the Quebec Government mandated to shut down all non-essential businesses in the province, including restaurants (except for take-out), shopping malls and aesthetic salons until April 13, leaving numerous entrepreneurs, like Leblanc, stuck at home worrying about the financial impact on their enterprise and their employees.

Concerned about the safety of his clients and staff, Leblanc proactively decided to temporarily shut down operations at Exotika on March 16 with the barber shop closing its doors the next day. “Given the nature of our business, not only are we in close proximity with the general public, but our artists work on clients directly,” explained Leblanc. “It did not make for a very pleasant work environment to always be on edge,” he added.

Leblanc noted that the financial repercussions of the work stoppage could be significant, considering that his employees – two full-time barbers, one part-time and two full-time tattoo artists – are paid entirely by commission. 

Leblanc explained that the hardest part about making the decision to shut down was knowing that, despite acting in their best interest, he was putting his employees in a precarious position. “Knowing that you are directly impacting the lives of people who depend on you to keep your doors open has been very upsetting to me,” he said. “That’s not to say that I’m questioning my decision because I put health and well-being of our entire staff as well as that of our clients above all,” he added.

Knowing his employees are in a tough situation, Leblanc said he’s doing everything he can to update them about financial aid programs. He’s hopeful that the federal and provincial governments will step in to help out small businesses. He also noted that solidarity between local businesses and organizations will be crucial for the community to get through the crisis and be stronger from it.

 

 All-party effort to pass federal aid package

On March 25, the Government of Canada unveiled its COVID-19 Economic Response Plan, which will directly dedicate $27 billion to support Canadian workers and businesses. The plan includes possible monthly payments of up to $2,000 for Canadians affected by the crisis, for four-months. Shifting employees back into the job place, and off a drowning EI system, was at issue.

Despite the current state of struggle, Leblanc noted that he expects business to be booming once he opens up shop again, having received a bombardment of requests for private tattoo sessions while the world is quarantined. His response: always nope.

Grocery stores, on the other hand, have exploded with traffic since the outbreak, proving to be a crucial source of our everyday necessities like food, cleaning products and, of course, toilet paper. 

Marché Laflamme owners, Marius and Myriam Laflamme, noted that since local restaurants’ dining rooms have been barred from public access, their grocery store has become much busier than ever. But it hasn’t gone without adjustment. Via Facebook message, the Laflammes explained that the first challenge when the virus broke out was adjusting to incredibly high demand, noting that their meat, fruit and vegetable departments, among others, didn’t take long to require restocking. 

As measures to deal with the pandemic become more and more severe, the most important thing for the Laflammes became obvious: keeping their employees and clients safe from the virus. On March 20, large plexiglass panels were installed at the store’s cash registers in an effort to mitigate social contact. Employees have also started disinfecting all surfaces in 15-minute cycles and cashiers sanitize their hands between every single purchase.

One solution involved optimizing their home-delivery service. Available Monday to Friday, including free delivery for orders of $50 or more, citizens are invited to call Marché Laflamme – (819) 684-4156 – list an order and receive it on their door-step the same afternoon. With such a high demand for their service of late, the Laflammes are also encouraging people to send in their orders by e-mail.

Over at Biodirect Distribution, Lee Bourdon, who started his business back in 2004 focusing on offering local organic meats to the Outaouais region, has been in high demand during the crisis. 

The Aylmer businessman runs two refrigerated trucks throughout the region and back and forth to Montreal multiple times per week. Keeping store shelves stocked while demand doubles and triples has been challenging, but Lee and his team are relying on experience, good supplier relations and calm to keep customers happy. 

Lee also offers direct to home delivery to customers who may be interested and has seen that side of the business expand greatly over the past two weeks. With no web presence, he relies on sending price lists to contacts. He asks that anyone interested reach out to him on social media, where he will take contact info and send out information. 

He can accept direct deposit or e-transfers from customers and orders can be left at the door. 

Aylmer receives deliveries personally from Lee on Thursdays. Minimum order for free delivery is $250 with a small surcharge applying to orders under that. 

613 797-2214 or dist.biodirect@gmail.com