With the COVID-19 pandemic hitting in mid-March, many local businesses were forced to close as they weren’t deemed “essential.” Dads and Lads Clothing in Peace River were able to keep their doors open despite the global pandemic, with supplying work wear.
Owner of Dads and Lads, David Martin says sales were slammed at the beginning of the pandemic and now there’s a broken supply chain from overseas factories being shut down. “I think it’s just going to get worse and worse, until spring production starts shipping and we get back into a good inventory situation.” Martin says almost everything they ordered for the fall and winter has been back-ordered for months, being delayed in production or stuck in shipping facilities.
Martin says ” I’ve seen a increase of people shopping local, when it’s almost contrary cause you’d think people would be shopping online because of COVID.” Martin adds with all the uncertainty and instability surrounding the year he is optimistic people will keep supporting local business.
Martin’s advice to new business owners would be “It’s gotta be something you really want to do. It’s not overly hard, but it takes a lot of time. You have to be patient.” He also says to hope for the best; “that’s the best you can do it hard times like these”.
-Erika Rolling, Trending 55 Newsroom
