'We're having record sales': Some Sask. businesses are booming thanks to community support through pandemic

What do people do when a pandemic hits and everyone is encouraged to stay home? One of the things they're doing is buying video games.

Anthony Foster is the owner of Next Level Game Exchange in Saskatoon and he says business has actually increased since the pandemic started.

People looking for entertainment while stuck at home have an endless amount of options, and could shop online for video games and consoles, but Foster said people are making the effort to shop locally.

"It's positive and uplifting when people tell you they're thinking local and they're shopping local because it's local businesses that support people's kid's hockey teams and baseball tournaments … a little goes a long way," he said.

Foster's business has been offering curbside pickup since retail stores were ordered to shut down but he'll be opening his doors again to in-store customers on Tuesday.

"I'm filled with excitement and nervousness," Foster said. "It's going to be kind of like starting over, all over again. It's new for everyone."

'Record sales every day'

Foster isn't the only business that's seen a spike in sales. 

Andrea Parton is the general manager of Clement Farms Greenhouses, and she says business is booming.

"Sales have really grown exponentially," she said. "We're having record sales every day."

The greenhouse has 10 locations in the province, in Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Moose Jaw, Warman and Martensville.

She agreed that the boost in sales is due at least in part to people wanting to buy local.

"People want to support local companies now more than ever," she said. "I think it's a long time coming but it's a good thing for everyone in our province."

Vegetables in particular have been flying off the shelves, she said, and seed sales have been strong, too.

"People are just spending more time at home and want to get their yards looking good and lots of people are just planting a garden for the first time."

Sales up 400 per cent

Allan Donald with Polar Bear Lawn Care in Saskatoon has also seen a huge uptick in demand for his services

"I saw sales go up by, like, 400 per cent from spring clean up this year as opposed to last year," he said.

He suspects part of that demand is due to people spending more time at home in their yards and wanting to make it a place they enjoy spending time in.

But he says he has also been told by customers that they hired him because they wanted to support a local company.

People want to support local companies now more than ever.- Andrea Parton, general manager of Clement Farms Greenhouses

In return, Donald said he's been supporting local businesses too, to ensure the money he makes stays in the province.

"Supporting local might make the dollars circulate around your own home far better than, you know, when you go to something like Wal-Mart," he said.

When his aerator breaks, he takes it to a local shop, and he hopes that local shop spends their money locally, too.

"Sometimes spending one hundred dollars on a local place gets to become $30 at another, $10 at another, $5 at another, and a couple bucks at another. Instead of spending it at Wal-Mart and it disappears from the city entirely."