This holiday season looks much different for both shoppers and business owners.
Deep in a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, non-essential items such as TVs, clothing and even toys were blocked off with yellow tape, preventing Manitoba shoppers from getting holiday gifts.
Flash forward a year, and the yellow tape has been put away, and retailers like General Manager of Advanced Electronics Adam Loszchuk are welcoming back shoppers this season.
“Obviously it’s a lot better now that we can see people, people can see the product, touch the product and see what’s new, that kind of thing,” Loszchuk says.
“Even with the snow storm recently, we’ve had quite a few people in the store again because of last year being closed, way more people obviously, we’re exceeding expectations,” he said.
The holiday season tends to be one of the busiest times of the year for retailers, according to Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce. For many, they say this time of year can be detrimental for business owners.
Owner of Toad Hall Toys Kari England was also forced to close to in-person shopping last season, she says she’s hoping this year will fill a huge hole.
“The things I missed out on last year were some of those last minute pick ups,” England says.
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“Whenever you walk in a store to pick up milk you come out with seven more things, I didn’t have that.”
England says while she’s not concerned about customers coming out this year, she is concerned about stock issues.
“I just got a shipment that I ordered in June…and I didn’t get all of it, but I got some of it.”
Winnipeg Chambers of Commerce store owners are reporting larger volumes of customers coming into their stores already, ramping up fears over supply later on in the holiday shopping season.
Meanwhile, the owner of Peepers Swimwear, Donna Anderson, says she has another fear on top of supply chain issues.
“I have a lot of regular customers that travel in the winter and I asked everyone as we approached the fall, are you going to travel in the winter? And a lot of people said yes probably or yes maybe,” Anderson says.
She says despite business booming this summer, she remains on edge this winter.
“That’s the whole pandemic, it’s day to day. Winter really is our biggest season, I know it’s counter intuitive, but January is sort of our big month.”
One good thing this winter for her swimsuit business she says is that borders have reopened.
“The snowfall is always good, though. People want to leave Manitoba when it gets cold.”
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