Vaughan residents trying to shop local, but businesses continue to struggle

Yorkrgegion.com
Nov. 30
Dina Al-Shibeeb

For Yehuda Goldberg, who is working an average of 14 hours a day and almost seven days a week, the much-advertised ethos to shop local is synonymous to meagre lip service of “our thoughts and prayers” to small businesses like his.

“I had to go to Toronto Western because I have an eye problem now due to stress,” Goldberg, owner of the Brothers Butcher Shoppe in Vaughan, said. “The nerves in the back of my eye weren’t working properly. And I couldn't see straight, I could only see double.”

“I need to find ways to release the stress because it's going to make things permanent if I don't change things quickly.”

The Vaughan Citizen spoke with Goldberg after its March interview, when the father of two expressed his mental and emotional exhaustion given that his wife has lupus and he had to take extra-strict precautions, fearing the possibility of bringing COVID-19 to his home.

In addition, like many other small businesses, he let go of his employees and the government handouts were limited.

So far, he says, his sales are down by 20 per cent and he hasn’t raised his prices.

Goldberg’s story is a reflection of how small businesses feel the unfair treatment when compared to big giants like Costco and Walmart, for example, who still operate with no hindrances.

“Amazon doesn't care. Costco doesn't care. You can come in return wherever you want,” said Goldberg.

With the financial impact of COVID-19 being approximately $63 million for York Region, Vaughan Chamber of Commerce and the City of Vaughan continue to promote their #ShopVaughanLocal campaigns.

'MAKE IT EASY FOR CUSTOMERS TO SHOP ONLINE'

When asked about people who are shopping from big giants such as Amazon, Brian Shifman, president and CEO of Vaughan Chamber of Commerce, said, “I can certainly understand the temptation.”

“And that's why we need to do as much as possible to make shopping locally accessible,” Shifman added.

One of Shifman’s main messages to businesses is to bolster their online presence to “make it easy for the consumer to shop locally as much as possible.”

The chamber so far has a “very active Facebook marketplace.”

“We're encouraging members of the business community to post sales and shopping opportunities for local businesses,” Shifman said.

Also, when businesses become members of the chamber, they can access “business leads and networking opportunities.”

Members can also get access to preferred pricing on “digital sign boards targeted towards the local community" as well as “direct mail pieces that advertise local shopping opportunities for businesses and residents.”

For those business owners not having the money or the expertise to implement the digital solutions needed to help survive the pandemic, chambers across Ontario are promoting the Recovery Activation Program (RAP), and Vaughan is no exception.

RAP offers businesses the know-how, blueprint and partners with which to address the conditions that COVID-19 has created by implementing digital solutions to their front, middle and back offices.

The chamber is also “monitoring” the “uptake of the revised commercial rent subsidy” as well as a “series of challenges” faced by governments and businesses to avoid “permanent job loss.”

Businesses struggling to pay the bills now are able to apply for the long-awaited new commercial rent-relief program offered by the federal government.

The new Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy replaces an earlier rent-support program for businesses introduced in the spring that saw little pickup because it relied on landlords to apply for help.

‘I KNOW AM BAD’: SHOPPING FROM AMAZON

Strictly shopping locally remains difficult.

The Vaughan-based real estate agent Jo-Ann Folino, who is taking the shop local hashtag seriously, has recently shopped from Amazon.

“I know I am bad, but it was cheaper and I received my order the very next day,” Folino described the immense competition faced by small businesses in comparison to big giants.

“I've been going to different restaurants in Vaughan, and when I go, I post (photos) on my Instagram, and I've been putting '#ShopLocal',” Folino said.

However, for Folino, she doesn’t understand how it is not allowed to go inside restaurants with “high ceilings” but be able to sit in a tent with “low ceilings” and in a much more “confined space.”

This has prompted some people to go to other people’s homes, she warned.