Chestermere resident of nearly 22 years, Peter Tindall, is encouraging community members to support local businesses and media outlets.
“A lot of my friends in the area are small business people, of course with the current COVID-19 situation a lot of them have been forced to shut their doors, and media outlets rely on advertising to support them,” said Tindall.
“We have a situation where a lot of the local businesses are forced to shut down. I’m sure a lot of media outlets right across Alberta are suffering because of it, and it would be very unfortunate if we lost our local media,” he said.
Adding, “We don’t really have another way of connecting with the community outside of the media and local businesses.”
Although some businesses are able to stay open during COVID-19 while undertaking measures to ensure employees and patrons remain safe, many businesses have had to shut down.
“I would hope that people would take it to heart and try to patronize their local businesses as much as they can,” Tindall said.
Tindall encourages residents to support local businesses when they reopen or purchase a gift certificate to use when businesses reopen.
“If we lose them, we will miss them,” Tindall said.
For Tindall, it’s important to support local businesses because the owners and staffers are members of the community.
“We need our local media, and we need our local businesses, and people should do their best to support them if they can, a lot of people are out of work,” Tindall said.
“They’re our neighbours, their kids go to school with your kids, they employ a lot of people, and the taxes that local businesses pay reduce individual property taxes,” he said.
Adding, “If we have a vibrant local business community, then it supports all of the services that people need.”
Not only does shopping locally support local families, but it also boosts the economy.
“It generally is a big boost to the entire economy and the quality of life that we enjoy out here,” Tindall said.
“We have a lot of mom and pop type businesses in the area, and people do try to patronize local businesses,” he added. “People would really miss our local business community if we lose them.”
