LETHBRIDGE, ALTA. -- Small businesses across southern Alberta are getting hammered by the pandemic, unless the small business in question has something to do with pets.
Then, business is apt to be booming.
According to a new survey from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), roughly 34,500 of the province’s small businesses are on the verge of closing their doors.
The survey also found that just 20 per cent of Alberta’s small businesses are making normal sales.
Restrictions limiting social gatherings and in-person dining are two of the main contributing factors to those grim numbers.
But when it comes to anything pet-related, it’s a different story.
Owner of Sam’s Puppy Playhouse Samantha Hart said her business saw a dip in sales during the first wave of COVID-19, but that quickly changed.
“Our puppy count has increased. There are definitely more puppies in the crew and our numbers are great.”
Animal rescue groups nationwide saw a surge in adoption applications back in March.
Those applications have since slowed down for the Lethbridge and District Humane Society, but people are still having to search far and wide to find small dogs.
“People have said to us that they’re calling Vancouver and into B.C. and all different places and there seems to be a shortage of small dogs available for adoption.” Said Manager of the human society Barb Grodzicky.
The hope is that all the puppies that have been adopted over the course of the pandemic won’t be returned or surrendered when the dust is all settled.
“Everybody calls them the COVID puppies because, everyone is home so they’re all getting puppies. So we just hope that when things go back to whatever the new normal is, these dogs will all be able to stay in their new homes.” said Grodzicky
That increase in adoptions is translating into financial success for locally-owned shops like Bone and Biscuit, which opened its doors just three weeks before the pandemic.
Store owner Megan Stewart said surfing the initial wave of uncertainty at the beginning of the first wave was stressful, but business was booming.
“We really noticed a lot of puppies. A lot of people were coming in here needing all the new necessities so that was a lot of fun,” said Stewart.
The words ‘a lot of fun’ is something that you rarely hear from businesses owners when talking about the impacts of COVID-19.
For entrepreneurs who rely on pet owners to keep their business afloat, the pandemic has actually offered a boost in an otherwise financially crippling year.
