St. Albert businesses still grappling with impacts of COVID-19

Most businesses that participated in a second COVID-19 impact survey hosted by the St. Albert and District Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development reported negatively impacted sales and the need to make operation changes due to COVID-19 and Alberta's phased reopening plan.

This survey was made available to businesses on May 7 through websites, social media and online newsletters, and asked for feedback on how they've been impacted by the pandemic as the province continues with its phased reopening plan.  

It included additional questions around reduced business hours, employees working from home, staff absences and supply chain disruptions.

In total, 149 responses from St. Albert businesses were collected until May 21. The survey will remain open if businesses want to provide feedback.

Approximately 86 per cent of respondents reported a decrease in revenues compared to 81 per cent from the first survey. More businesses, 61 per cent, said they had to change how their business operates.

Forty per cent said they saw increases in expenses for personal protective equipment (PPE) and sanitization, up 38 per cent from the first survey findings. As of July 1, private organizations and companies must get PPE from their own suppliers at market cost.

Eldyka Simpson, owner of Ripple Effect Wellness Centre, said even though the clinic has been busy since reopening its doors, it is still seeing around 60 per cent fewer clients than it normally would.  

The clinic's financial situation is better than it was months ago, but reduced capacity, ongoing fixed costs and expenses to buy PPE is still challenging to balance, she said.  

"A big challenge is just hoping to be sustainable and find ways to be as busy as we can be."

A recent CFIB survey found 88 per cent of businesses in the health sector are concerned PPE will become a significant expense, while more than half said the "new normal" will result in higher prices for patients because of reduced capacity and additional requirements. 

"The amount of people we can see is down, the administrative help we need is up, so the money is going to have to come from somewhere eventually. At this point we've tried to not pass it on to the consumer," Simpson said.

Revenues have dropped by more than 70 per cent over the last three months, and Eldyka said they're waiting to see whether their landlord will participate in the federal government's rent relief program.

All of this could be exacerbated if an upswing in positive cases will force the province to scale back on reopening plans.

"Our next hurdle will be on the rent piece, deferring that and figuring out that payment. Then if there's another big wave come September or October, do we shut down again? So there's still that piece of long-term uncertainty."

The survey results shine some light on how St. Albert businesses have been fairing since reopening. Other key findings include: 

• 75 per cent of respondents reported profit losses, of which 40 per cent saw declines of between 20 to 40 per cent
• Of the businesses that have done layoffs, 84 per cent of full-time employees have been laid off.
• 27 per cent said they had employees working from home.
• 36 per cent said they could withstand lockdown measures for six months or longer. Forty-three per cent said they could survive one to two months.

"The businesses are still struggling, and there's a lot of uncertainty of what their future will look like," said Jennifer McCurdy, president and CEO of the Chamber.

Many businesses are concerned about their ability to control their costs and drive revenues over the next few months, and if they can afford to pay all their deferred expenses while working under provincial health guidelines, she said.

Sean McRitchie, economic development director, said on average St. Albert businesses saw a 20-per-cent loss in revenue. While that's a "solid indicator of how resilient the business community is," it could also be a red flag if businesses can't meet revenue thresholds for supports, he said.

While he's heard positive feedback of the province's Small and Medium Enterprise Relaunch grant, it requires at least a 50-per-cent drop in revenues.

"This might create a situation where businesses in our community are going at it alone." 

According to May's survey results, 26 per cent of St. Albert businesses have not accessed any government programs.

The city and Chamber will be working with the local business community to manage their expenses through already existing government programs, while helping businesses identify opportunities to deliver new services and transition to other platforms, McRitchie said. 

But it's not all bad. McCurdy said while the pandemic may be the "last nail in the coffin" for some struggling businesses, at the same time, new businesses have emerged. McRitchie said the city saw about a 10-per-cent lag in new business licences for the last three months, but there was a "significant" uptick in June. 

"As new business licensing goes, we were expecting not to see any, and we're actually seeing upwards of 90 per cent of what we typically would see in an average year. I think that's a great news story for us," he said.

Summary of Impact of Covid - Survey2 by Brittany Gervais on Scribd