At the St. John’s Farmers’ Market (SJFM) on Saturday, the typically bustling space was slower than usual.
Some vendors and other small businesses in St. John’s are beginning to think more about how to get their products to customers who are trying to avoid crowds in the wake of the province’s first presumptive case of COVID-19.
Stephen Pike, owner of 7th Wave Craft Roasted Coffee, said his business will begin offering coffee deliveries on Monday.
“This is a pivot we’ve been thinking about now for the past week or so when we saw the writing on the wall about the potential quarantine, and the shutdown of certain facilities and the social distancing that people are going to have to undertake to try to stay away from each other and stay safe.”
He said beginning Monday people can order bags of fresh roasted coffee on their website — two bags for $27 including delivery. Within 48 hours, it will be delivered to people living in the St. John’s metro area, including Mount Pearl, Conception Bay South, Torbay and Flatrock areas.
“Hopefully people will realize that this is their way of being able to support a local business, and this is our way of being able to stay in touch with our customers without losing the opportunity to serve them on a retail basis.”
Pike said he expects the wholesale side of the business — orders from restaurants and hotels — to be affected by COVID-19, so enhancing the retail side of the business will help to fill some of those gaps.
SJFM executive director Pam Anstey said it’s an idea that other vendors are working on, too.
“I think there are other businesses and other vendors that are doing that exact same thing – being willing to deliver, and meet people and things like that, as opposed to being in a large collective space.
“I know that, should we shut down, we’ll certainly be trying to navigate a lot of those connections for the individual businesses…letting people know who is doing that because even if we don’t have market, they are still our vendors, and we want to support them in any way that we can.”
Later Sunday afternoon, the market announced it was suspending operations for the coming weeks effective immediately.
Across town, St. John’s restaurant Sushi Nami Royale is offering a ‘no-contact’ delivery option for people who are self-isolating. Customers can pay over the phone and the delivery will be left on their doorstep.
“Although we love seeing your faces come in through the doors of the restaurant, we completely understand that some of you may want to remain at home and keep to yourselves for the time being,” the business wrote on its Facebook page.
To that end, it’s offering free delivery until April 13.
Twitter: @juanitamercer_
