Author of the article: Peter Hum
Publishing date: Mar 15, 2021 • March 15, 2021 • 1 minute read • “Though we put on a brave face, most of us are masking mountains of debts and hanging on by a thread, Harriet Clunie, the chef of Das Lokal in Lowertown, said in a statement. In order to stay open, we’ve had to rack up debt, but there have been zero profits. We’re running out of steam, we’re running out of ideas and we’ve run out of money.” Photo by Errol McGihon /Postmedia
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The Ottawa Coalition of Business Improvement Areas is throwing its weight behind a proposal that Canada’s pandemic-ravaged hospitality businesses receive help with their taxes until restaurants can fully open their dining rooms.
Ottawa s BIAs lobby for tax breaks for city s restaurants and hospitality industry msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
As independent retailers struggle to compete with big-box stores and e-commerce behemoths such as Amazon during the pandemic, two of Ottawa’s largest business organizations have joined forces with a pair of local startups to provide product discounts and free delivery service to members.
The Ottawa Board of Trade and the Ottawa Coalition of Business Improvement Areas have partnered to launch an online platform that offers discounts on services from local businesses. The Board of Trade received a $5,000 grant from Invest Ottawa’s Digital Main Street initiative to launch the platform, which went live last month.
Powered by locally developed marketing app FanSaves, the digital marketplace features deals targeted at the general public as well as exclusive offers for members of the Board of Trade and OCOBIA.
OTTAWA Eight Ottawa businesses are accused of violating COVID-19 safety measures following a two-day blitz by Ottawa Bylaw Services. Officers visited businesses across the city during the weekend of March 6 and 7 to ensure establishments are following the rules of Ottawa s Temporary Mandatory Mask Bylaw and provincial orders during the pandemic. In a statement to CTV News Ottawa, Bylaw Services Director Roger Chapman said officers issued 15 fines to eight businesses. Officers in plan clothes discovered some businesses were beyond the opening hours, not adhering to public health guidelines and hosting large gatherings, said Chapman. Ottawa Bylaw did not provide the names of the businesses or the exact violations for each establishment charged with violating the public health measures.
Mar 1, 2021
This article originally appeared in the BOMA Ottawa Commercial Space Directory. Read the full publication here.
Thanks to the pandemic, retail will never be the same.
It’s easy to consider this statement only in the context of e-commerce growth. Shopify, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority and others have released plenty of data points charting the dramatic increases in online retail activity among small businesses.
But brick-and-mortar businesses are still dominant retail players, despite the challenges of 2020. Stalwart entrepreneurs continue to set up shop on traditional main streets and other high-traffic locations across the region. Consumers still want the experience of visiting a local store in-person, even if they also value the convenience of online shopping more than ever before.