When New Brunswick burst the regional bubble formed with the Quebec community of Temiscouata this week, Louise Fyfe again lost a chunk of her customer base.
“Our clientele is mostly people that travel on the highway,” she says.
“So, of course, it was great when the borders were open,” Fyfe says, “but now that they are closed, we really, really see the difference.”
Fyfe’s Café Lotus Bleu has been situated in downtown Edmundston for 13 years.
It focuses on vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options, attracting niche patronage.
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“I do have a good local clientele,” she says, “but it isn’t enough to sustain a vegetarian coffee shop.”
Fyfe says the café could see up to 70 customers for a lunch rush pre-pandemic. Now, they’re lucky if they see 20.
“We’re OK, but it’s like a sinking ship.”
Edmundston Mayor Cyrille Simard says businesses will survive, but can’t deny the impact of the lack of transient traffic.
“We are the centre of the whole region,” he says, “so we have some people that come from Temiscouata for shopping purposes.”
“It’s not a large number of people but it has an impact.”
Simard says those most impacted by reinstated border restrictions are those with family or property on either side.
“It’s obviously not the best news we could hear,” he says, “but at the same time everybody understood when we entered the recovery phase that we could have to take a step back if the conditions were not that good.”
Simard hopes public health authorities in both provinces are able to advise a way to reopen the bubble soon.
Fyfe hopes so, too – worrying her business might depend on it.
“I don’t think we can maintain our operations here for very long,” she says.
“I’ll see how far we can go but, really, it’s just a day-by-day thing right now.”
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