Discussions

In this time of the Manitoba corona crisis, many small family business' need your support.  
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They often sell exactly what your looking for with no mailing or waiting.  
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Shop Local First whenever you can.  
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Shop On-street not On-Amazon  
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Amazon and other out-of-province online stores  
take money out of the pockets of your neighborhood business'. (Amazon makes $600 million /day!  
it's a fact - google it!)  
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Many DO provide their own on-line listings & often offer curbside, delivery & safe -pickup!  
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Shop in Brandon - help your  
neighborhood small box business  
not the big box business'!  
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I encourage people to suggest here a list of lesser known family & small business' that could use your support during this provincial shutdown.  
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.Small Family business need your support! .

New System Store  
Union Shoes  
Lady of the Lake  
The Little Shoppe  
Greenspot  
Bob’s Headquarters  
Toymasters  
I Want That Stuff  
Alternative Landscaping  
Zeke’s Jewellers  
Bloom Box  
Janzen’s Paint and Decorating  
8 Bits of Awesome  
Courtney’s Cupcake Creations  
Chez Angela  
CowTown  
Cinnamon Tree  
Bromley’s Menswear  
Benny’s

This message might have been more relevant a day or two ago, but now with our provincial government classifying a lot of items as non essential and unable to be sold locally, I imagine amazon will boom more than ever, to the detriment of our local community  
 
Really not sure of the logic behind "banning" certain items, sure limit the amount of people who can be in the store at one time to maximize distancing but why limit what can be purchased when they are in the store ?  
 
Edited by hutchster, 2020-11-19 19:00:09

Non essential items can still be bought locally, you just have to do it via curbside or delivery.

Non essential items can still be bought just have to do online order and/or call and do curbside pickup.

Yes the new mandate does not "ban" anything... they just want to stop people going to big box stores in droves where the virus can spread. All non-essential items in Walmart, Superstore and others now have to be bought online....  
so online or call your favorite local store first!

add THE FAMILY TREE & INK to the small family business list

I'm not sure why people are so confused as to why indoor shopping is limited to essential only. Curbside and delivery aside as these are not limited to essential items, winter is coming. With the colder weather on us and the number of shoppers limited within the stores, it is unreasonable for people to stand outside in the elements to buy food or hygiene items while people dawdle along the aisles buying makeup and tablets. Make sense?

I am loving curbside. I've have a few chats with wonderful store owners today, helping me find just the right items (thank you Ted Good and Momma Bear's Quilt Shoppe). I honestly hope it's something that continues when we emerge from the other side, small businesses and big box alike.

I've been too spoiled with the decent weather lately, I can see where this makes some sense when it gets very cold, cutting down on in store time thus shortening line wait times makes logical sense.

Also, many of the local tattoo/ piercing places are offering gift certificates. And probably some of the hair salons and esthetics places too!

Amazon-$6.99 for a product and free shipping...local-$9.99 and i have to pick it, up I think I know where I will be shopping at.  
 
Edited by Otta Towner, 2020-11-19 23:11:44

I have a hard time getting around in stores to physically pick out things I need at times. The ability to have someone deliver right to my vehicle has been fantastic! Disappointed superstore has chosen to start charging for time slots however.

The message from our Mayor and the Chamber is a good one to search to find items (or Xmas gifts) locally to pick up. The reality of this recent shut down is that people are locked in their houses and shopping online to places like amazon. The longer these type of restrictions continue the more shoppers will continue to shop online after they are lifted. I feel very sorry for the businesses that were closed down after they did everything asked of them to follow the health rules and kept everyone safe. Now penalized for it.  
 
I also wonder if Winnipeg numbers and our numbers were reversed if Winnipeg would be i:ncluded in these restrictions??

That's a good question. The numbers are so high at this point that I suspect that if it were reversed the answer would be maybe, as once it gets that high it doesn't stay put. We have the advantage of distance, but there's still a fair amount of travel going on between Brandon & Winnipeg.  
 
For comparison sake, we're currently sitting at about 172/100,000 active cases.  
 
Winnipeg is 701/100,000.  
 
Steinbach as a city is an eye-searing 1,994/100,000 (Southern/Sante-sud as a whole is a more moderate 509/100,000).

You just can’t shop in person at businesses that sell non-essential items. They could sell over the phone and online and provide delivery or curb side pickup. If they want the business they will find a way. They might have Facebook pages, websites, etc.

'The only reason to buy local most of the time is the convenience of not waiting the 2-5 days for it to arrive. '  
 
Here's the thing tho. If nobody buys things locally because it is a couple of dollars cheaper to order from Amazon.... then eventually you won't have the option to get it locally when you need it right away.

Cjford...I don’t mind paying a pickup fee since someone is doing my shopping for me. I did however, sign up to be a PC insider (way before covid hit as I’ve been doing click and collect since they started) and it’s $100 a year for unlimited pickups plus you get gifts throughout the year and they’ve been pretty good ones actually! Yes it still costs money but depending on how many times you get groceries, it might be worth it?

If you don’t support local then don’t be surprised when you don’t have the option to anymore. Imagine having that attitude and preferring to make a billionaire richer.. People who think like that shouldn’t be able to complain if we don’t have a certain store or recreation opportunity, etc bc you wouldn’t support it anyway!  
 
It’s important to shop at locally owned businesses and they have so many positive things going for them over big business like amazon. People are incredibly helpful, provide instruction and feedback, stock items by request, work long hours, support our communities, provide jobs, etc. Your purchase is valued by the business. You can’t say the same for amazon.

Faders Music is doing online and curb side pick ups too!  
And you can still watch their online music lessons from spring!

Amazon doesn’t support your community hockey rink or your kids softball league or your local hospital, or your local school and Amazon sure doesn’t pay taxes in your community. Local and small businesses contribute heavily to our communities, that should not be forgotten. If things that I need are available locally I will always shop local even if it costs a little more, it’s an investment that pays dividends in your area. It just makes sense to support the community and people around us.  
“What comes around goes around”  
 
Edited by Farmergeorge, 2020-11-20 23:23:40