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Despite snow day, businesses reopen and welcome clients as Windsor-Essex enters COVID-19 red zone
Just as the provincial stay-at-home order was lifted and Windsor-Essex came out of a two month COVID-19 lockdown, significant snow fall forced people to continue to remain indoors Tuesday.
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CBC News ·
Posted: Feb 16, 2021 7:42 PM ET | Last Updated: February 17
Dave Stephan says being able to go to a familiar stomping ground like Average Joe s Sports Bar feels like freedom. (Jacob Barker/CBC)
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In a year that has been anything but normal, Taloola Café co-owner Rosemary Woods felt a slight twinge of just that when she popped into the café Tuesday morning and found some regulars in their usual spots.
“It was a strange feeling,” admitted Woods, who also co-owns The Grand Cantina and Slices with business partner John Alvarez.
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“Seeing people inside, it was like this is just part of the normal routine and this is where I sit. It was like a weird time warp had taken place.”
The Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association has written to the premier, pleading for changes to the provincial lockdown rules, in order to help small businesses.
WINDSOR, ONT. The Downtown Windsor BIA is asking the province to amend the COVID-19 restrictions for small businesses. “It’s just an unfair advantage that they’re giving to big box stores and that’s the problem we really have with this,” said DWBIA chair Brian Yeomans. In a letter to Ontario Premier Doug Ford, the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association is asking the government to reconsider lockdown parameters that prevent small businesses from keep their doors open while big box stores still attract crowds. Yeomans says e-commerce is not a viable option for many small businesses and the restrictions have been devastating particularly during the holidays.