Friday will be a big day for businesses in the Sault and across Ontario, owners eager to reopen (even with COVID-19 restrictions in place) after being locked down by the province due to pandemic fears since March.
Premier Doug Ford announced his government’s Phase 2 reopening plan June 8.
Restaurants and bars, for example, beginning Friday, will be able to serve food and beverages on patios, after being restricted to food takeout and/or delivery for the past three months.
Dining and consumption of beverages will not be allowed inside any restaurant’s main dining room/bar area for the time being.
The news of the Phase 2 reopening process was met with a mixed reaction by at least one Sault hotel and restaurant owner.
While thanking the province for taking the first steps in the reopening of businesses, J.J. Hilsinger, The Water Tower Inn’s proprietor, in a June 10 letter to Premier Doug Ford, Sault MPP Ross Romano and “other related individuals and groups,” wrote “in the hospitality industry, restaurants are not run by patios. They are, in fact, operated through huge investments in kitchens and furnishings and leases.”
Hilsinger called on the government to green light the full reopening of establishments such as The Water Tower Inn (“with five days notice that we are good to go!”).
“Patios...won’t support viability and sustainability of a restaurant business,” Hilsinger wrote.
“(We need) the kitchens for cooking and the permanent seating filled with patrons all year long.”
Mindful of public safety during this COVID-19 era, Hilsinger informed the government “at The Water Tower Inn, we have reset our restaurant to 50 per cent or less of capacity distanced seating by removing tables and we intend to advise non-associated guest groups to refrain from mingling.”
“(But) by simply opening our patio, we risk non-compliance to the degree we may not be able to control our operations.
For instance:
- Patio guests will enter the main restaurant to use washrooms and pay bills.
- Guests staying at the Inn getting their takeaway foods will mix with the patio guests.
- Guests using curbside pick up will divert the attention of our staff who must deliver food orders and it will be more difficult operating the business at limited staff levels compared to using our COVID plan including inside guest seating.
You might also imagine the chaos when weather rolls in and a downpour occurs and everyone heads for cover inside.”
“I continue to appeal for restaurants and other small businesses to be able to operate by identifying their COVID plans and by committing to managing occupancy limits as dictated by distancing regulations, not by occupying sidewalks and parking lots,” Hilsinger wrote.
Earlier, Hilsinger wrote “this inn is currently selling rooms and take out food. However, we need to fully open our restaurant and pool facility so guests travelling across Canada or those seeking local stay-cations can be served. Additional room sales are critical to our survival.”
Meanwhile, Claudia Levesque, The Road House Bar & Grill owner/operator, will be opening a new patio for business Friday.
In fact, Levesque, who already had a patio licence, brought labourers in to begin building the wooden patio Tuesday, one day after Ford’s June 8 Phase 2 announcement.
“We’ll be opening at three o’clock tomorrow afternoon until 12. Saturday through to the following Sunday (June 21) we’ll be 12 to 12 until we see if it’s busy the whole way through. We’ll see how it goes,” Levesque said, speaking to SooToday Thursday.
Levesque said The Road House will be careful to maintain social distancing on the patio.
The Road House had been operating its food takeout service throughout the provincial COVID-19 clampdown.
“It’s exciting. It’s been a long three months...we’re just lucky we had the takeout throughout all of this to keep us going. It’s been a challenge,” Levesque said.
“I’m very excited to get back to work,” said Catherine O’Donnell, Catherine’s Hairstyling and Barbershop owner/operator.
Hair and beauty salons, barbershops and tanning salons may reopen under the province’s Phase 2 under certain conditions.
“We’re opening Friday morning at nine o’clock. The salon is definitely going to look very different from what we were used to because we have to comply with social distancing. There are provisions in place to keep everybody safe,” O’Donnell said.
“We’ll be working two different shifts because I can’t have full staff. In the beginning, for the first couple of weeks, we’ll all be working seven days a week (O’Donnell and the four hairstylists she employs), four hour shifts to be fair (only two stylists and two customers in the salon at a time) so that each stylist has the opportunity to take care of their regular customers.”
In keeping with provincial orders, O’Donnell said clients will be required to stay in the parking lot until sent for by a hairstylist (no waiting area for now), submit a questionnaire regarding their health upon entering the salon (to screen for COVID-19 symptoms), both customers and hairstylists required to wear masks along with a 15-minute wait period between each client while each hairstylist disinfects her chair and equipment.
Hand sanitizer will be available at the door and at each hairstylist’s station.
“We can’t accept any walk-ins at the moment. It’s ‘appointment only’ customers right now,” O’Donnell said, adding she and her staff will be catching up on customers backlogged because of the three-month COVID-19 clampdown.
Customers, O’Donnell said, are welcome to call to make an appointment by calling (705) 253-3411.
O’Donnell said most procedures are ‘a go,’ except for beard trims, eyebrows and facial waxing.
“People are starting to rebook appointments, they’re quite excited...it’s a nice feeling. I’m ready to get back,” O’Donnell said.
Meanwhile, at Station Mall, staff could be seen performing ‘getting things ready’ tasks behind the doors of several shops late Thursday afternoon, including Booth Wireless, Hilltribe, Nygard Plus, Ardene, EB Games, Sunrise Records, Charm Diamond Centres and The Source.
“We’re all pretty excited, with the exception of the fact the notice (of the Phase 2 reopening) came within only a couple of days, but everyone here is excited, it feels good to be back to work,” said Tim Hodgkinson, The Source manager.
Hodgkinson said all the usual COVID-19 measures will be in place at The Source, one customer allowed for each sales associate in the store.
It is not yet known how many (if any) Station Mall food court vendors will be open beginning Friday, a Station Mall official told SooToday.
Mike Szczepaniak, Station Mall property manager, said customers should call each individual mall store for questions about hours of operation.
