“It was greatly appreciated”: Customers clear out construction zone bakery
Shoppers with a sweet tooth completely sold out a small town bakery in the Town of Essex recently, while streetscape construction continues in front of the Essex Centre store.
Staff at The Little House of Cupcakes and More on Talbot Street said there was no sugar-coating concern when making a Facebook post last week reminding customers they were still open, less than one month after roadwork began.
“It’s hard with the roads being torn up and the sidewalks are next,” said owner Heather Richardson. “We don’t see a lot of foot traffic like we normally do.”
Richardson wrote in the post that every little thing helps, saying if they can’t get customers inside, the bakery wouldn’t make it after 8 years of business.
“Telling people if they can’t come in, I can’t pay the bills and I can’t pay the staff,” Richardson said. “It kind of went viral on us and they cleared us out.”
Richardson said by the next day, the post was shared about a thousand times and that countless customers purchased everything in stock within two days.
“I can’t believe the amount of people that came in, waited in line just to pick up any little treat they could and it was greatly appreciated,” she added.
She explained, “This last month has been real hard. We depend on our walk-ins and when nobody was coming in, I didn’t know what to do.”
Richardson added, “We try to do a lot of things for other people, fundraising and donations and when I needed the help, everybody stepped up and came in and I appreciate every one of them.”
Meantime, The Essex Centre Streetscape and Victoria Avenue project is estimated to continue throughout the summer into the fall and be complete in December 2023.
“There's a lot more to come, unfortunately,” said Mayor Sherry Bondy. “But fortunately because it'll be beautiful when it's all said and done.”
According to Bondy, underground work is coming soon, with focus shifting to big item things like curbs, roads, and sidewalks.
Bondy said she put forward a Notice of Motion for this Monday’s council asking how the town can better support businesses and bring shoppers to the core while construction continues.
“We know that they had a couple of years of lock downs and this is also a challenge,” Bondy told CTV News. “So we're asking people again to shop local and see if there's anything else we can do. For example, can we hire more social media influencers? Can we look at newspaper, radio, TV ads? What else matters for the businesses?”
Bondy continued, “Maybe we bring back a mini facade grant where businesses have access to grant monies again and just really looking for a brainstorming session with council to see what do we do next and how do we further help them.”
“We want our businesses to be successful. There is ample parking. If you go to Essex streetscape on our website, you will see all the free municipal parking lots that are just a block away,” said Bondy. “Ken Knapp Ford has a free shuttle service that they're doing. You can park at Ken Knapp Ford in beautiful downtown Essex and they'll drive you to our businesses. So we really are trying to make sure our businesses do really well now.”
Bondy suggested recent summer like weather had been a boon to progress for construction, but stopped short of saying the project could be completed sooner than expected.
“We never want to jinx ourselves but I think we have a great contractor here in the area,” Bondy said. “They’re staying on schedule, the weather has been cooperative, so there’s so many variables up in the air. You never know what you’re going to find with construction. So that’s why we just want to make sure that we’re supporting local during the construction.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.