{"id":28659,"date":"2021-02-04T13:54:12","date_gmt":"2021-02-04T18:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=28659"},"modified":"2021-02-04T13:54:19","modified_gmt":"2021-02-04T18:54:19","slug":"business-owner-calls-for-level-playing-field-in-retail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/business-owner-calls-for-level-playing-field-in-retail\/","title":{"rendered":"Business owner calls for level playing field in retail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn\u2019t have given it a second thought, but when local business owner Mike Rathke walked into a pharmacy a couple of weeks ago and saw three women standing together spritzing perfume into the air to find their perfect scent, he saw red.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He wasn\u2019t averse to the perfume, nor was his primary concern the fact they weren\u2019t practicing social distancing. Rather, it was the fact he lost a sale just a few hours before due to COVID-19 protocols and other, larger, businesses were carrying on almost\u2026well, almost business as usual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was frustration; frustration over the simple reality that \u201cbig box\u201d stores are allowed to operate while small retailers like him have had to close their doors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not a new concern. It was a reality most small businesses navigated through the first wave. But their concerns are the same. There is a playing field that needs to be levelled and it needs to be levelled to ensure the survival of small businesses across all sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe funny thing is at the beginning of December, sales were awesome for me. It was almost like normal business. Then, of course, we had the shutdown and I lost everything I was doing so well on,\u201d says Mr. Rathke, owner of MR Menswear, a clothing store located on Yonge Street at Church Street. \u201cIt is a store that the traffic flow, even at Christmastime, the max would be a total of four people plus myself. It is a store that is a destination, not like one of those big shopping mall stores. Of course, in January, we haven\u2019t been open, and [the shutdown] has been extended to February 11, and it is frustrating to see the amount of people in these big stores and all within a couple of feet of each other when people coming in here could have the whole store to themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before he made that fateful trip to the pharmacy, he received a call from a customer who was looking to get a pair of dress pants received over the holidays adjusted for size. Due to COVID-related restrictions, Mr. Rathke was, of course, unable to welcome the customer into the store. They arranged instead for him to bring in a pair of fitted pants to the store, hand it off through the window of his car, and be on his way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the customer also needed a few pairs of pants and a couple of new shirts for his wardrobe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Great, but the only thing is I will have to bring them out to your car and show you what is available,\u2019\u201d recalls Mr. Rathke, noting that after a moment\u2019s hesitation the customer agreed to the setup. \u201cBy the time I got out to his car, it had started with a bit of snow and freezing rain and it was uncomfortable for him. He said, \u2018I\u2019ll just deal with the Christmas gift and when you re-open I will add to the wardrobe then.\u2019 I lost a sale. He would have been the only person in here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen, I go to the pharmacy and there all three of them were, plus the rep, all within four feet. Here I lose a sale and they\u2019re allowed to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite a loyal and passionate customer base, that can only sustain a business for so long in the middle of a pandemic when coming in to shop and spend money is all but impossible. Mr. Rathke said without government support to businesses like his, he would have had to shut his doors permanently in the fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFormal clothing is not a necessity right now,\u201d he says. \u201cNo one is wearing suits [working from home] and that is not selling because everyone is wearing loungewear, sweatpants, jeans, t-shirts, and that sort of thing. People are saying, \u2018Hang in there!\u2019 but I would be shutting down if it wasn\u2019t for the Government\u2019s assistance. There is no way I could have made it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If only the government would step up and say small businesses can re-open with a limited number of people, he adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t thank my customers enough. I am in a lot better shape than a lot of people and that is thanks to me being one of the only men\u2019s clothing stores [in Aurora]. I had customers coming in in October and November not in need of anything, but just to support me, keep me up, and keep me open. I am thrilled and fortunate and I can\u2019t thank this Town enough. I am fortunate to have that backup from the Government, but, at the same time, I just want to open up and speak to human beings again instead of my mannequins!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong>
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/em><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn\u2019t have given it a second thought, but when local business owner Mike Rathke walked into a pharmacy a couple of weeks ago and saw three women standing together spritzing perfume into the air to find their perfect scent, he saw red. He wasn\u2019t averse to the perfume, nor was his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":28650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2021-02-04-05.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-7sf","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-20 14:06:52","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}