Sudbury business owner with a plea to 'shop local'
With the arrival of Boxing Day, northern residents are still shopping for gifts, and one Sudbury business owner has taken to social media to ask locals to support his shop.
“If everyone in Greater Sudbury would spend just $3.00 in my store. It would change my life. The struggle is real,” wrote owner of Dan’s Candy Store, Daniel Wiebes, in a Facebook post.
The post has received almost 400 shares and 100 comments since he shared it on Dec.21.
“I’m overwhelmed it’s been non stop for two-days. People have come in they just said we just needed to know,” Wiebes told CTV News.
Wiebes has been in the party rental business for over two decades traveling around northern Ontario participating in Christmas festivals, school fundraisers, and Canada Day celebrations, but that all changed almost two years ago.
“All of a sudden one day I woke up and we had over 100 festivals booked and every single festival, every single school fun fair, every single wedding was all cancelled in one day and we had to decide on what we were going to do,” he continued.
“We couldn’t go to parks, we couldn’t go to the arena, we couldn’t go to halls, so we had to figure out a way to get the customers to come to us and the biggest thing that everybody likes doesn’t matter rain or shine is treat.”
With the colder weather, Wiebes closed up the trailer and decided to bring his business indoors.
“We opened up our doors three weeks ago and people just weren’t coming…so I just put it out there to the universe. I just picked a number. I said if everybody just spent 3 dollars and just came and said hi it would change my life,” he continued.
“If things don’t change I won’t be there when things go back to normal. That’s all I got to say.”
With over 40,000 views, Wiebes says he’s definitely noticed more people coming into the store since the post went up.
“Christmas Eve, we have our family tradition where the kids all get special treats and we watch a movie together and we came here,” says shopper Jodi Armstrong.
“He’s done so much for our community helping to support all of the organizations and activities we have going on so we like to keep our business local and support him to make sure he’s around for a really long time.”
Wiebes wants to encourage everyone to support all small businesses as he knows he’s not the only one struggling during these times.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.