Callander businesses gain a little space from Town Hall

With Covid-19 restrictions demanding a heavy toll on many businesses throughout the region, the Town of Callander has lent a hand of support to those in their downtown community.

The program allows shop keepers to place merchandise on sidewalks adjacent to their stores to entice passersby and provide more square footage for products.

“Council was keen to support the local businesses,” Callander’s senior municipal director, Ashley Bilodeau explained, “especially during this time.”

“They’re very excited about it,” she added.

The project came about at the request of Jodi-Rose Richer, the proprietor of Timeless Staging. Her store sells “local favourites” from “fifty-five different community artisans, vendors, and farmer’s market folks.”

“We’ve only been open for ten days since Christmas Eve,” she explained, adding her store only opens on weekends during normal operations.

“It’s been difficult,” she said. “We fell through the cracks of all of those amazing grants out there” designed to help businesses during the pandemic.

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On Mother’s Day weekend, hoping to draw business, she set out some tables with products onto the sidewalk by her store, and within hours a complaint from the public sent the health unit to investigate.

“We wanted to be compliant,” Richer emphasized, so she decided to raise the possibility of allowing sidewalk displays to Town Hall.

After writing a letter, and a few follow-up conversations, the Town allowed the Sidewalk Program to begin in late May.

Bilodeau mentioned that although restrictions regarding sidewalk displays have lessened, business owners are still required to contact Town Hall beforehand, to ensure accessibility is properly maintained.

Store owners can call 705-752-1410 to register for the program, and no fees will be charged for permits, Bilodeau explained.

Whether or not the sidewalk program will continue after the Province fully reopens is uncertain, although “I think council is favourable to allowing a more vibrant downtown,” Bilodeau said.

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David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.