COVID-19 has been hard on everyone. in June, it was estimated that 56-thousand Canadian businesses closed their doors.
Fortunately, the Wood House Glencoe, located about 40 minutes outside London was able to stay open. Karen Creasor runs the small paint shop. They carry paints from Benjamin Moore, Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, Fusion Paint, and their newest, Milk Paint.
Creasor did a lot of paint work shops pre-COVID. The fall and winter is the busiest time of year.
” we are offering workshop kits. So it’s called ‘take’n’make kits’. And we offer a lot of different kits. Basically, you open up a pizza box, and everything’s in the box. We have instructions and we’re always here if somebody needs help. The art therapy, that I like to call it, we can still offer that”
Chrissy McRoberts is the co-owner of Dog Eat Dog. Her shop carries tons of neat products made from artists and artisans from Southwest Middlesex. McRoberts said she had 20 artists depending on her store for income.
“As soon as the shutdown happened, myself and my co owner, Ruth Ann, decided we would give each other 24 hours just to kind of absorb up to that point. We did not have an online store. We talked about it. So we spoke the very next day and decided we had 48 hours to get an online store, which is nearly impossible. And we were awake 48 hours working as a team taking in inventory, photographs, and information. It really was a panic”
McRoberts was able to get her store up and running online in a matter of days.
Now, the Wood House and Dog Eat Dog are running their pre-COVID full time hours. Both businesses are up and running, and ready to take on what’s next.
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