Lafferty: More restrictions on local small businesses would bring “severe consequences”

A Belleville shop owner and former city councillor says if COVID-19 numbers get worse locally and more restrictions are put in place, it would be really bad for small businesses.

Tom Lafferty, who owns a menswear store in downtown Belleville, has been a vocal advocate for small businesses, and says are they are being treated unfairly compared to their “big box” competitors when it comes to pandemic-related rules and restrictions.

“I understand that essential services need to be open and running and available for people. But when they close down the little independent guy, and then the big chain guys who have all the money and power, they’re able to stay open. It just seems very unfair to me.”

He says that while we’ve been very fortunate here and worked hard to limit the spread, the first wave has already claimed other businesses and he’s still nervous about the weeks ahead, given that the holiday shopping season is just getting underway.

“In the retail business we just live for December. You kind of stumble your way through as best you can to get to December and if we get shut down, you’re going to see pretty severe consequences from that. People need to have access and retailers need to be open for that four weeks from the end of November through December.”

He added that while both the provincial and federal governments have worked hard through the pandemic, more needs to be done to help those businesses that are still running, not just the ones that have had to shut down.

Lafferty also stated that while he understands why some local businesses have decided to deny service to customers who come from COVID-19 hot spots, he’s not sure every business could afford to do that. He also doesn’t expect a spike in out-of-town visitors, given the fact that shops in other areas closer to hot spots are still open.