Barry Klus admits that Mother Nature is normally tough to deal with when it comes to what kind of winter we will have in North Bay.
The good news is Mother Nature has been rather kind to those in the skiing industry, however, with the lockdown, ski hills have not seen the light of day yet in 2021 in the province of Ontario.
Klus owns Cheap Skates in downtown North Bay, which sells snowboard and ski equipment.
He admits so far 2021 has been a grind.
"The lead-up to Christmas was going nicely to the fact that people were excited about the Christmas season as well as the winter season, looking at getting on the hills and trails and such - up to the lockdown itself things had been rolling along rather nicely, but once the lockdown hit, it really shut the doors on us," said Klus about the downtown North Bay business that has been around since 1995.
"We are still curbside, but with the ski hills being closed that made an impact that we were not expecting so it certainly made a big difference to our business since then."
Like many businesses, Klus has tried to adapt to help offset some of the lost business. He continues to sell fat bikes and even introduced snowshoes which have both been popular unrestricted outdoor activities in the region.
While sales of those two items have been great, the challenge is getting inventory as products are scarce and in high demand.
Klus questions the closure of ski hills during the pandemic in the first place.
"To throw in the pandemic and some of the decisions that have been made in the north have made it really, really challenging," admits Klus.
He just hopes and believes a season can be salvaged only if a lockdown or ski hill closures are not extended past Feb. 11.
"Again I reinforce that I hope they look at the situation carefully and realize how much different the north has been compared to the south and how critical it is for us to really look at some of the rules that have been put out there that are impacting us in a severe way economically," said Klus.
"I think we are the only ones in the country to have ski hills closed. That sort of says something. I really hope they look at that carefully. Winter is hard enough to get through without this but it is just another factor we have got to try and deal with; be creative and hopefully move forward."
