{"id":424,"date":"2021-01-22T20:05:21","date_gmt":"2021-01-22T20:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/?p=424"},"modified":"2021-01-29T17:37:11","modified_gmt":"2021-01-29T17:37:11","slug":"hamilton-we-can-support-our-communities-just-by-grocery-shopping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/2021\/01\/22\/hamilton-we-can-support-our-communities-just-by-grocery-shopping\/","title":{"rendered":"Hamilton: \u201cWe can support our communities just by grocery shopping&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>On Jan. 13 Premier Doug Ford encouraged Ontarians to shop at small businesses, as many face financial pressure due to lockdown restrictions, while others have been forced to close their doors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSupport your small businesses. Forget about the big box stores, very simple. Go support your small businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB) suggests 160,000 small businesses across Canada may permanently close due to COVID-19, with the potential for the number to rise to 225,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>HometownHub.ca, a website by the city of Hamilton, allows residents to access a variety of local businesses in one place.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The website offers categories like local eats, \u2018hamazon\u2019 (a play on Amazon), as well as different ways to support local artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The site is mainly used for online shopping, while some businesses offer curbside pick-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet, there is no mention of small businesses open for essential shopping, like independent grocery stores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt can be so hard seeing Walmart have a line-up down the block while my local Chinese grocery store is empty,\u201d says Zerka Mya, owner of The Pulao Girls catering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf we can only shop essentials, why not support local? I even feel safer in a small-owned store, with a 20 person maximum capacity, over a crowded chain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Statistics Canada says close to one-third (30.4 per cent) of businesses did not know how long they could continue to operate at their current level of revenue, while one-fifth (17.5 per cent) reported they could continue for less than six months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, Walmart Inc. sales almost doubled last summer, its biggest-ever reported growth. The surge was driven by a 177 per cent spike in online purchases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;As someone who owns a small business, let me tell you, these are hard times,&#8221; Mya says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe can support our communities just by grocery shopping.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/116\/2021\/01\/IMG_0778-1024x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-425\" width=\"471\" height=\"471\" srcset=\"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/116\/2021\/01\/IMG_0778-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/116\/2021\/01\/IMG_0778-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/116\/2021\/01\/IMG_0778-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/116\/2021\/01\/IMG_0778-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/116\/2021\/01\/IMG_0778-1536x1536.png 1536w, https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/116\/2021\/01\/IMG_0778.png 2048w, https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/116\/2021\/01\/IMG_0778-80x80.png 80w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 471px) 100vw, 471px\" \/><figcaption>Graphic by: Isabella Lopes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Jan. 13 Premier Doug Ford encouraged Ontarians to shop at small businesses, as many face financial pressure due to lockdown restrictions, while others have been forced to close their doors. \u201cSupport your small businesses. Forget about the big box stores, very simple. Go support your small businesses.\u201d The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}