'Back to normal' for Huron Church Road businesses as push for funding continues
CBC
Customers are returning to businesses along Huron Church Road in Windsor, but businesses owners are hoping for more support to make up for lost revenue.
Parts of Huron Church Road were closed to traffic for about a month, since the end of blockades at the Ambassador Bridge. The city has said the closures were in place to prevent further protests from popping up.
"We've done well since they opened up," said Fred Bouzide, owner of Fred's Farm Fresh on Huron Church Road. "It's back to normal, thank goodness."
Bouzide said the number of customers visiting his store ramped up over the past few days, as Huron Church Road got closer to fully re-opening.
The final closed-off area of Huron Church Road, at the intersection of College Avenue, was re-opened on the weekend.
"I think people started to talk [to] their neighbours, telling them that it's OK to come down," he said. "There was a lot of people that just wouldn't come down for a long time."
Bouzide said the shutdown affected his store's sales "quite a bit." Exact numbers aren't yet available yet.
"In the period that the truckers blocked it until they opened up, we're probably down $30,000 or $40,000 in sales," he said. "It was quite a long time."
"And then, even the after-effect too, because people didn't want to come down here."
Some compensation for businesses affected by the Freedom Convoy protests has been announced. Last week, the province said it would provide up to $11.1 million to Ottawa businesses affected by the protests in that city. Federal funding is also available.
No such relief has yet been announced for Windsor, but Bouzide said it would be welcome.
"Every little bit helps," he said. "A lot of people think that we have a great big business. We do, but we have great big expenses as well to go along with it."
"It's not as big as people think after we pay all our taxes and payroll deductions and everything else like that," he said. "The help would come in handy."
Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzky told CBC Radio's Afternoon Drive on Monday that she was pushing the province to step in and provide financial relief for Windsor businesses and workers affected by the blockade.
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