Heat wave gives Calgary businesses an extra boost

The jump in temperatures has resulted in a boost in sales for some Calgary businesses as residents seek to escape the heat and put pandemic restrictions behind them.

CALGARY -

Scorching temperatures for the better part of a week are giving some Calgary businesses a chance to bring in extra revenue.

The heat wave is especially providing a much-needed boost to Lazy Day Raft Rentals as thousands of Calgarians took to the water on Saturday.

“We are completely sold out today, completely sold out tomorrow, completely sold out for Canada Day and obviously the rest of the super warm days are filling up super fast,” said manager Jordan Ormshaw.

“Last year we couldn't get into our area that we use for storing all of our rafts until July so we had a short season because of the pandemic, but we’ve been going full bore now since May 1 and it’s been very busy.”

Lazy Day Rafts has about 80 rafts and another 20 other watercraft available for rent – all of which are sold out into the next week.

Being able to enjoy the outdoors is especially impactful for Calgarians like Merrin Poli and the many members of her family she hasn’t been able to see during the pandemic.

“It feels like light at the end of a very long tunnel and we’re looking forward to meeting up with people again and acclimatizing with getting back to socializing because we’ve been indoors for far too long.”

Others like Cory Morrison are also grateful the hot weather came just as COVID restrictions began to ease.

“It just feels good to get out here with all of our friends finally, enjoy some hot weather with minimal restrictions,” he said.

Meanwhile, other businesses like Made By Marcus Ice Cream were also lined up down the street as hundreds of customers enjoyed cool treats.

“it’s very busy with the weather and everything opening up again so we’ve been trying to produce as much as possible every day,” said production manager Holly Gareau.

“On a day like today we expect to sell 400 cones, sometimes they have to make more and cups could go up to a thousand.“

Julia Pasieka was amongst those excited for a break after a long day in the sun.

“It’s fantastic and refreshing and I love it,” she said.

“We’ll probably be here a lot more over the next week.”