Analog Books owners Scott and Penny Warris stock up on books.
Small businesses that started up during the pandemic continue to thrive and receive support from the local community.
With COVID-19 cases on the rise and new provincial health restrictions being put in place, businesses in southern Alberta are feeling the pinch. Although the pandemic has been challenging for people across Alberta, a few people were able to take advantage of this situation.
Analog Books’ owners Penny and Scott Warris saw a potential market to sell books. Although they didn’t initially plan to open during this time, Penny finds a bookstore was probably one of the best businesses a person could open during the pandemic.
“There’s been challenges brought on by the pandemic, but there’s also been bonuses brought on by our industry for it,” says Warris.
When Analog Books opened its doors in December 2020, Amazon stopped selling physical books. The owners saw the opportunity and were overwhelmed by how many people wanted to shop local.
“We watched the sort of ground swell of people wanting to shop local and people reading books and wanting to get physical books,” says Warris.
The Sill and Soil is another business that opened during the COVID pandemic. The Owner Hannah Lee mentioned how she had challenges opening her doors, but was able to make the most of it.
“I think if you talk to any entrepreneur or small business owner, it’s constantly learning and shifting and pivoting to what your business needs,” says Lee.
Lee doesn’t know if she would change anything about opening her business. Because people are looking to liven up their living space, Lee is happy to supply products for them as people continue to support them.
“The local community really welcomed us and I felt like that would have happened regardless of COVID,” she says.
Business traffic has slowed down quite a bit because of the pandemic and added restrictions by the Alberta government, but support from the Lethbridge community for these two local businesses hasn’t slowed down.
