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St. Albert Farmers' Market, optometrist clinic recognized

Recognition welcome news for St. Albert businesses amid COVID-19

Two St. Albert businesses have been selected as finalists for the 2020 Alberta Business Awards of Distinction, standing out amongst hundreds of submissions. 

The St. Albert Farmers Market is up for the community attraction award, which recognizes a business or organization that makes their community a more attractive place to work, live, visit and play. 

Operating since 1982, the St. Albert Farmers’ Market is recognized as the largest outdoor farmers’ market in Western Canada, hosting close to 270 vendors and attracting upwards of 20,000 visitors each Saturday for 19 weeks from June to October.

Jennifer McCurdy, president and CEO of the St. Albert and District Chamber of Commerce, said she was "thrilled" to hear the local market made it into the finals. 

"It's great to be recognized from a business standpoint," McCurdy said. "We're like a little incubator, and we do provide a lot of value not only to our community, but to the entrepreneurs, family farmers and businesses that participate in the market."

This isn't the first time the Farmers' Market has been recognized on the provincial level. Alberta Tourism awarded the market the Friends of Tourism Award in 2006. In 2017, the Farmers' Market was recognized with the Alberta Tourism Sustainability Award.  

"As a farmers' market, we look outside the box. We're always looking at how we can bring more value to our vendors, how can we act as an incubator and nurture new businesses, and how can we support the community. We're not just about fruit and vegetables and tents, we're really concentrating on helping our community."

The province labelled farmers markets as essential businesses, meaning St. Albert's market can go forward amid the pandemic. Details on how it will operate this year are still being ironed out, McCurdy said.

Capital Vision Care is a finalist for the customer service award, which applauds a business or organization's efforts to improve customer experiences in a measurable and strategic way. This was the first time the local optometrist was recognized at this level. 

Dr. Peter Laansoo, chief executive partner at Capital Vision Care, said he was surprised to hear the local optometry office made it into the finals.

"It was really exciting, I didn't really believe it at first. All everyone is talking about right now is COVID-19, and to be honest I thought it was some sort of scam at first, but it seems like it's legit," Laansoo said, smiling.  

Company-wide customer service training programs have been a focal point for the local practice for the last few years. The practice would shut down their operations for an entire day to make sure their employees could focus on honing their skills.  

"It was all hands on deck, which was a big deal for us - we had almost 100 people. It worked out really well," Laansoo said.

Employees are also paid through bonuses for doing work in their local communities, with each storefront committing to four initiatives a year.  

Hearing their local business made the cut was welcome news amid all the uncertainty and challenges that have come from the pandemic. Seventy per cent of their staff have been laid off.

To keep the practice going, the optometrist is taking one patient every half-hour to keep with social distancing measures. 

Due to restrictions, the practice is only available to take emergency and urgent cases, meaning every person that walks through the door usually needs urgent care. 

"We're calling it WOLF syndrome, we chart it that way, because everyone's been socially isolated for so long. It stands for, went out, left family and injured eye. Every day, we get a bunch of those," Laansoo said.

"It's usually men going into the garage or the shop, and just grinding metal right into their eye. We're getting some cooking injuries too. Plus all the regular eye diseases are always going on, they haven't stopped. We're taken on a bit of extra burden because there are optometry clinics that are completely closed, and no one wants to go to the hospital right now."

Having the local practice recognized at this level was a much-needed boost to morale to show their team is on the right track, he said. 

"(The nomination) is a real team recognition, and that's been great so far. It's nice to have something positive."

Before COVID-19, the gala awards were set for June 19 at the Renaissance Edmonton Airport Hotel. A final decision on whether the event will still happen has yet to be announced.  

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