Kingsville businesses struggle with ongoing closures as Ontario continues reopening

Kingsville restaurateur Heather Brown says under normal circumstances her restaurant would be filled with customers and staff celebrating the summer sunshine together. 

But since Brown — who co-owns the Main Grill and Ale House along with her husband — runs a restaurant in one of the only two Ontario communities currently prohibited from undergoing Stage 2 reopenings, her business is only open for takeout and delivery orders as a means of protecting the community from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

"Kingsville has an amazing downtown area, Leamington has a beautiful downtown area, and we just want to be part of the reopening," she said. 

On Wednesday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced that businesses in Windsor-Essex, — including restaurant patios, as well as hair salons and barbershops, among others — would be able to join the rest of the province on Thursday in entering Stage 2. 

However, Kingsville and Leamington aren't included, due to high COVID-19 numbers among agriculture workers on farms in the region. 

Brown's restaurant has been closed for indoor and patio dining since March 17, when she and her husband made the decision to lay off staff and run the business on their own. 

And though she said she understands the province's decision to prevent Kingsville and Leamington businesses from beginning to reopen, Brown nonetheless expressed concern about her restaurant's bottom line. 

"We'll never get that money back," she said.

Trevor Loop, co-owner of Jacks Gastropub, the Banded Brewing Company and Distinctive Inns of Kingsville, said he's now "desperately seeking … governments at all levels … to help us with this situation."

"We want a resolution to the problem — that's first and foremost — and we want it resolved in a safe fashion," he said. "But we need to get open."

According to Loop, income generated over the summer season — a chunk of which comes from tourism — represents approximately 60 per cent of his annual revenue. 

Should closures continue, Loop said, many businesses in his community will likely be forced to close.

"We're counting on visitors from Ontario and we were just really starting to make some headway in building our region as a tourism destination," he said. "The wineries were busy, accommodations were busy, we were really anticipating a great summer, and not only are we closed, but we're the last community in North America that's not open because of coronavirus.

Essential businesses also affected by ongoing closures

While restaurants in Kingsville and Leamington are continuing to experience financial difficulty due to the pandemic, even owners of essential businesses that were permitted to stay open say they're experiencing hardship.

Jennifer Flynn, who owns the Grove Hotel, said the issue isn't just money lost due to decreased travel as a result of stay-at-home and other emergency orders. She says her hotel is now also seeing cancellations as a result of other parts of the province — and the rest of Canada — opening up.

"We have people calling and they'll ask about booking a reservation at a local restaurant, and when we have to tell them we're not at that point … then they are always confused," she said.

"It's been a very difficult couple of weeks with the uncertainty of all of that."

Flynn added that, since other communities in Essex County have been given the greenlight to enter Stage 2, there's now a kind of stigma associated with Kingsville and Leamington.

"Windsor's been allowed to open and I 100 per cent support those businesses, because I would be screaming as loud as the next person if that was my business," she said. "But I just feel like we are the only two communities that are left at Stage 1, and it really becomes unfair perception-wise."