A sense of normalcy is beginning to be felt downtown by businesses. (CHAT News Photo)

By Alex McCuaig

Open again

Downtown businesses starting to see a return to normalcy

Jul 6, 2020 | 4:46 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – For nearly three months starting in March, the streets of downtown Medicine Hat were largely devoid of people with most businesses shuttered. But the last few weeks have seen a resurgence in activity for the city’s core.

The suddenness of the impacts caused by safety restrictions stemming from the provincial response to COVID-19 saw businesses like Inspire Cafe scramble to rejig their operations from a sit-down restaurant to a take-out operation.

“We kind of found a niche through it all,” said co-owner Maureen Newton, highlighting the meat pie specialty they began successfully selling. “And when we opened for dine-in again, we’ve not been overwhelmed but we’ve been quite busy.”

So much so, Newton says they are now looking at rehiring staff they laid off at the beginning of the pandemic.

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The King of Trade shut its doors in March but its already established website helped mitigate the loss of walk-in businesses.

And some of it came from some unexpected places. Owner Dave Brown says he saw a surge in demand for video games – especially for old Nintendo DS games from customers in Puerto Rico.

With the doors of the business now open again, customers are returning but Brown doesn’t think things will ever be the same.

“I honestly think we’ll never be back to normal like we were before. I think this is going to be a preview of what is going to happen in the future,” said Brown about social distancing and other safety protocols related to COVID.

But for Hemp Town Rock owner Pattie Vivier, she’s happy to see some normalcy return.

“Since I reopened – especially right after opening – it was really busy. I think a lot of people weren’t working, they were supporting the local businesses, missing the local businesses downtown,” she said. “Things now as of July, end of June, just started to level out again.”

Most of the downtown’s retail businesses have reopened since the province went into its stage 2 relaunch strategy.