Sudbury businesses welcome back customers as lockdown measures lift

When the doors at Bay Used Books in downtown Sudbury opened to the public Tuesday for the first time in seven weeks, Cory Gaudette was excited to see many regulars back at the store to browse and shop.

"The bookstore feels really empty without customers, so it's kind of nice to see it come back to life," said Gaudette, who has worked at the store for five years. 

Bay Used Books was one of many businesses in northeastern Ontario that was able to reopen Tuesday, as lockdown measures partially lifted, and the province returned to the colour-coded system of restrictions.

In the northeast, all health units except for one moved out of lockdown. North Bay-Parry Sound will remain under the stay-at-home order until at least next Monday, due to the number of COVID-19 cases and variants in the community.

Some restaurants sticking with take-out only

Even though many businesses were given the green light to reopen, some are taking additional precautions. 

At the Four Corners in Sudbury, staff at Ripe Restaurant are preparing to resume dine-in service as of Thursday. But just around the corner at its sister business, Pinchman's, the bakery will only offer takeout for the time being. 

"We just felt that with the size of the dining area, and now that we have so many people coming in for takeout items — because we have expanded our repertoire and the items that we have available to purchase at the retail level — that dining in at this point was not a safe way to proceed," said Marc Grottoli, who owns both businesses.

Pinchman's was open for dine-in prior to the second lockdown, but Grottoli said he began questioning if that should continue back in December.

Grotolli said Pinchman's has reduced its menu offerings during the pandemic, but has started selling other products, like pasta sauce and more baked goods. He says the sales of those products have helped to recoup some of the lost revenue. 

He said Ripe hasn't been able to "pivot" as much, and has felt the impact more. He's looking forward to being able re-introduce dine-in service, and feels it's safe to do so because of the larger dining space. And he has reason to believe many customers are excited to come back to the restaurant as well. 

"The minute that they announced that the lockdown was partially lifted and that restaurants were allowed to open, we got a phone call within ten minutes," Grottoli said. 

'People understand the procedure' 

At Bay Used Books, Gaudette said the reopening went very smoothly, and as an employee, he found it was a much easier transition than when the store reopened after the first lockdown. 

"The first time … it was a constant repetition of 'you have to wear a mask, you need to sanitize, you need to distance.' But I think that people are taking things a lot more seriously now," Gaudette said. 

"People understand the procedure."

Gaudette said the store has been fairly successful with curbside pickup, however he expects being open for in-store shopping will make a big difference for sales. If someone doesn't find the book they were looking for, they'll often find something else that interests them as they browse, he said. 

"With book shopping you have to see them and smell them and peruse through the shelves before you find the one that's going home with you," Gaudette said. 

"It's very different than placing an order online."