{"id":4330,"date":"2021-06-17T17:06:22","date_gmt":"2021-06-17T20:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=4330"},"modified":"2021-06-17T17:06:22","modified_gmt":"2021-06-17T20:06:22","slug":"business-bustling-as-province-eases-more-covid-restrictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2021\/06\/17\/business-bustling-as-province-eases-more-covid-restrictions\/","title":{"rendered":"Business bustling as province eases more COVID restrictions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Customers flock to Memories Cafe in Liverpool on the first day of the Phase II reopening. Photo Ed Halverson<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

The second phase of Nova Scotia\u2019s reopening plan kicked off Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Restaurants and bars can now have up to ten people per group seated indoors and social distanced from other groups.<\/p>\n

Retail stores can now operate at 50 percent capacity and personal services businesses such as hair salons, spas, and body art establishments that require clients to remove their masks can also reopen.<\/p>\n

A quick walk around downtown Liverpool shows business owners were ready and keen to open their doors.<\/p>\n

Andreas Arnmor, owner of Main and Mersey says while their takeout business has kept them afloat through the lockdown, it was nice to see people milling around inside.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, eight o\u2019clock in the morning, fantastic to have people inside, although it\u2019s still social distancing. But, just to move towards normality,\u201d said Arnmor.<\/p>\n

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Andreas Arnmor owner of Main and Mersey prepares a hot drink. Photo Ed Halverson<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

During a busy lunch service at Memories Caf\u00e9, server Angie Wilson stopped for a moment to comment on the crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cMuch busier than expected, lots of people coming and going,\u201d said Wilson. \u201cThey\u2019re very excited to be back out and into the public again and to see other faces.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Angie

Angie Wilson at Memories Cafe welcomes patrons back to their dining room. Photo Ed Halverson<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

At Five Girls Baking, owner Leanne Arnott is relieved other owners can reopen their businesses.<\/p>\n

Arnott says the pandemic forced everyone to adapt.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, we had seating in here that we had to take away at the beginning and we never put it back,\u201d said Arnott. \u201cWe did have people that would come and sit down. We have changed an awful lot to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the fresh baked goods produced on site, Arnott says they branched out to offer local fresh food and meats as well as specialty groceries.<\/p>\n

Another business owner who had to make changes to their model is Joey Nasrallah, owner of A1 Pizza.<\/p>\n

Because of the increase in take out orders, Nasrallah needed more space for his staff, so he expanded his kitchen and cut the amount of seating to just eight stools.<\/p>\n

Nasrallah noticed a change in how his customers would interact during the lockdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were scared, if a person [was] in, people wait outdoors, they won\u2019t even walk in, even if [there was just] one person or they might leave. Difficulties, people scared of each other,\u201d said Nasrallah.<\/p>\n

\"A-1

A-1 Pizza owner Joey Nasrallah is glad to see so many neighbouring businesses reopening their doors. Photo Ed Halverson<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Around the corner at Hell Bay Brewing Company, co-owner Melanie Perron said they\u2019re just excited to have people sit and stay a while in their space.<\/p>\n

Perron says they\u2019re hiring staff and preparing to serve people both in their shop and on their patio.<\/p>\n

Each of the people we spoke with were asked how they felt about the speed of the province\u2019s phased reopening plan.<\/p>\n

They all agreed the phases seem to be coming at an appropriate pace to keep everyone safe.<\/p>\n

Perron sums it up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a doctor. I\u2019m not a scientist, so for me to judge or give my opinion on how they\u2019re going about doing things, it seems to be working out, so far so good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Hell

Hell Bay co-owner Melanie Perron says beer sales through the NSLC have kept the doors open but she’s glad to see customers return. Photo Ed Halverson<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Nasrallah says when it comes to the long-term impacts, a cautious reopening plan is better.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to open too fast and get damaged again like we did last time,\u201d said Nasrallah.<\/p>\n

Overall, owners were in good spirits on the first day of Phase II.<\/p>\n

Back at Main and Mersey, Andreas Arnmor is looking ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first mask-free day we\u2019re going to have a party,\u201d said Arnmor. \u201cI\u2019m going to sell gin and tonics. No, I\u2019m not because I\u2019m not allowed. So, I\u2019m not going to do that. I\u2019m going to sell tonics with matcha latte as a new drink.\u201d<\/p>\n

After struggling to survive the pandemic, business owners can begin to the light at the end of the tunnel.<\/p>\n

Reported by Ed Halverson\u00a0<\/strong>
\nE-mail:\u00a0edhalversonnews@gmail.com<\/a><\/strong>
\nTwitter: @edwardhalverson<\/strong><\/p>\n

To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.<\/em><\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Phase-2-Reopening-Mixdown.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The second phase of Nova Scotia\u2019s reopening plan kicked off Wednesday. Restaurants and bars can now have up to ten people per group seated indoors and social distanced from other groups. Retail stores can now operate at 50 percent capacity and personal services businesses such as hair salons, spas, and body art establishments that require […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4330"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4338,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330\/revisions\/4338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}