Local businesses react to restrictions extension

“I’ve had moms that have reached out to me that are single moms that are in absolute tears. They don’t know how they are going to meet their financial obligations, they don’t know how they are going to keep their family afloat,” he said.

Since the shutdown began, Hemsing began advocating for the industry in Medicine Hat and province-wide through a Facebook page and rally. He remains extremely concerned about what the future will hold if the shutdowns continue.

“Premier Kenney announced in the beginning of December that there was not a single case of transmission of COVID-19 in any beauty industry in Alberta and eight days later he shut us down. He gave us the hope that we would be open this Monday and that was taken away yesterday,”he said.

Even with the money from the provincial and federal government, Hemsing said for many businesses in the industry it is simply not enough.

“Four months of closure for a small business like ours with two operators is approximately $40,000 in lost revenues a month, so that equates to $160,000 in lost revenues for us and the support for the provincial government has been $20,000, which means that’s $5000 a month so we are still deficient by $35,000, and we are just a small business. So when you talk about much bigger businesses in the beauty and spa industry with higher rents to pay, that is not much support,” Hemsing said adding some in the industry have had to resort to those funds to pay off personal expenses like mortgages and car payments.

The beauty industry is facing a loss that extends beyond the two shutdowns, according to Hemsing, largely due to many people changing their beauty habits.

“Many clients had to make decisions during the shutdown as to how to maintain what they normally do. So many clients decided I’m not going to color my hair anymore, I’m going to go natural because I don’t know if I’m going to be able to keep this up, so that was a future lost revenue, that will go on and on,” he said.

Over at Heartbreaker Dance and Fitness, owner Marla Howard echos that the amount of support provided by the government is not enough for small businesses to ride out.

“As of right now I only received $2500 from the government of Alberta in the past 10 months. That’s not enough. There were a few other grants and whatnot, yes, fine, I get that, still not enough. If the government wants us to stay financially healthy. My proposal to them is to give me exactly what I need in a month,” she said.

Her business is also required to close for an additional two weeks. When Howard first heard about the extension to the restrictions, concern immediately entered her mind.

“My first reaction was the concern for our individuals and their health and wellness.I feel it is very contradictory as to what is happening as of late. We are in a health crisis and a health pandemic what we really need to be working on first and foremost is promoting that heath and wellness and having it available,” Howard said.

Howard has owned Heartbreaker Dance and Fitness for 15 years and recently decided to expand her studio to another one on North Railway but when COVID-19 hit, she was forced to close her other studio in order to survive.

“I had to make the decision because I financially could not afford two rents,” she said.

The fitness studio owner said she is a strong believer in guidelines and not shutdowns and is confident the fitness industry can reopen safely.

“I had a huge loss of income with the strict guidelines. I’m okay with that. I’m okay with having a little bit less but to give people that more. I’m fine. It’s a pandemic I’m okay with having a little drop of income, but having no income is not okay,” she said.

Over at Station Coffee House, the coffee is brewing. The downtown cafe has been able to earn revenue through takeout but the amount of revenue generated is not the same as pre-pandemic levels.

“Revenue wise we’ve seen a significant dip, but right now our main push is you know make sure we can pay our rent, buy our groceries and keep our people working, so we are able to cover that kind of stuff,” owner Jeremy Knodel said.

Knoedel noted that the popular coffee shop is in much better shape than they were when the pandemic first hit, something he credits with the support of the community. He’s urging everyone to support local as soon as the businesses are able to reopen.

by Tiffany Goodwein

Local businesses react to restrictions extension

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