As more local businesses are finding strategies to allow them to get back to business while following the guidelines set out by health officials, several groups have set up resources to help people keep track of who’s open and what level of service they’re offering.
The Gibsons and District Chamber of Commerce, www.gibsonschamber.com, has been keeping a running list of the businesses that have remained open or are reopening.
In Sechelt, the Sechelt Downtown Business Association has been keeping a similar list on its website, www.secheltdowntown.com.
In Pender Harbour, the Pender Harbour Area Residents Association has been tracking information about both essential and non-essential services available in the area and the steps local businesses are taking to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
See www.phara.ca/covid-19-update.
The Sunshine Coast Community Task Force’s website, www.scctaskforce.com, includes information about businesses throughout the Coast that continue to operate and contacts for local delivery services that can do pickups from businesses that remain open but aren’t offering their own deliveries.
And Sunshine Coast Tourism, through its “Supporting local from your couch” initiative, has compiled a listing of businesses that covers both the upper and lower Sunshine Coast on the blog at its website: sunshinecoastcanada.com/blog.
Gibsons Mayor Bill Beamish used his May 1 message to residents to highlight his own experiences visiting businesses in the town to see which ones were currently open and how they’ve modified their practices.
“The one clear observation that I made as I walked about Gibsons is that most of our local businesses are trying to maintain some level of service, while also complying with the safety guidelines provided by our medical health officers,” Beamish said.
Beamish said he was “struck by the ability of our local businesses to adapt to the new circumstances and continue to provide needed services, as we all struggle to cope with COVID-19.”
