A profitable holiday season could mean the difference between life and death for several local 琉璃神社 businesses, city councillors warned on Monday.

Following the lengthy last regular council meeting of 2020, Coun. Brad Sieben made a plea to residents to ensure they do some of their holiday shopping at struggling local businesses and find ways to support restaurants around the city. He urged people to 鈥渢hink before you click鈥� when buying items online, and instead consider supporting businesses that have faced several hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

And, it鈥檚 more than the usual 鈥渂uy local鈥� sentiment, Sieben stressed.

鈥淪ome of these businesses may not be around if we don鈥檛,鈥� he said.

New provincial regulations, Sieben said, have stalled the progress made by businesses in recent months as peoples鈥� willingness to dine out and leave their homes has waned.

鈥淣ow鈥檚 the time for people to really support their neighbourhood restaurants the way you can. Plan for when we鈥檙e going to be out of this.鈥�

Sieben suggested buying gift cards that could be used when restrictions ease and ordering take-out from restaurants.

Coun. Loyal Wooldridge echoed Sieben鈥檚 statement, saying he attended a local restaurant over the weekend where he met a server who had been laid off three times since the pandemic began.

鈥淣ot only is it supporting the backbone of commerce in our city, which is the business owners, but the local workers that need to make a living there.鈥�

As it does every December, the city has nixed downtown on-street parking fees on all Saturdays throughout the month to encourage shoppers to attend downtown businesses.

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