Local businesses helping to supply non-medical masks

BARRHEAD — Now that health officials have cautiously endorsed the wearing of non-medical masks to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, some local businesses are stepping up to help fill customers’ demand.

One of those businesses is Barb’s Sewing, Fabrics & Fashion in Barrhead. Owner Barb Hodgins said she has been seeing an increase in people calling and asking her to make masks.

“We’ve got a mask craze in our town right now,” said Hodgins, in an interview on April 7.

Like most small business-owners, Hodgins said she has seen a sharp drop in business due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said the clothing side of her store is “absolutely dead” because she can’t let people into the building, and she’s only doing a small amount of business providing curbside pick-ups of fabrics and sewing materials.

Hodgins recalled how one lady came to pick up an order the other day and wondered out loud whether any small businesses would still be around once the pandemic was over.

“I just looked at her and I said, ‘That’s what we’re all wondering,’” Hodgins said.

What’s keeping her busy, at least for now, are customers who can’t sew themselves and are now scrambling for masks, she said.

On April 7, the Public Health Agency of Canada stated that wearing a non-medical mask or facial covering can be an additional measure that people can take to protect others around them.

As those who are infected with the virus may be pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic — in other words, they either aren’t showing symptoms yet or will never display symptoms — wearing a mask can prevent respiratory droplets from contaminating others or landing on surfaces.

“If wearing a non-medical mask makes you feel safer and stops you from touching your nose and mouth, that is also good,” the agency stated in a release.

However, it is still much more important to remain home as much as possible, to practice physical distancing and to wash your hands frequently. These remain the most effective ways of preventing transmission of COVID-19.

Hodgins said she was initially hesitant to make masks for others for the same reason that health officials have been hesitant to recommend them: because they may lull people into a false sense of security. But the orders kept coming in, so she might as well fulfill them.

She has also gotten calls from people who are looking for elastic, as it is in high demand right now. One call even came in from B.C., based on what they had seen on her business’ Facebook page.

Hodgins said she has been limiting the amount of elastic she sells people, which has resulted in a few people getting angry with her and then insisting they will take their business elsewhere.

“But I’ve heard compliments too … People say, ‘Oh, that’s pretty smart of you, actually I respect that you’re doing that, because why should I get greedy?’”

The Town & Country Today also reached out to another fabric supplier, Buttons Up Ltd. in Athabasca.

Owner Maureen Whiteman indicated she is not getting calls about making masks, but a lot of her customers are crafting them to give out to other people, like members of their sewing guilds.

Whiteman said she is also doing business via curbside pick-up; people phone her or message her via Facebook for orders, and she then leaves the material out for them.

Whiteman indicated she has her own supply of elastic but will be unable to get more once she runs out.

Masks for sale

Lane Lee, owner of Barrhead Cleaners and Your Safety Work Wear, said he is also ordering in a shipment of cotton masks that people can come into the store and purchase.

Because his business offers laundry and dry cleaning services, they are listed among the “essential businesses” that have remained in operation. You can still go down to the Barrhead Cleaners during regular business hours from Monday to Friday.

Lane noted that they provide cleaning for a lot of other food services that are still in operation, such as cleaning the whites used at Richardson Milling.

“We provide essential services to essential services,” he said.

Of course, like all businesses right now, Lane said they have taken a hit from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s definitely slow. We have lost a lot of our commercial customers because they’re shut down,” he said, noting they will stay open as long as they can to keep supplying those essential services.

Lane said a manufacturer in the city that normally provides coveralls to his business has switched over to making cotton masks.

While they were working on a major order for another customer, Lane indicated he expected to get a shipment of masks in probably around the afternoon of Thursday, April 16.

Lane said he expects to sell the masks for around $6, though that may change. The masks will be available at both the Barrhead location and at the Westlock Cleaners and Your Safety Wear.

If people want a large number of masks, they can phone Lane at the Barrhead location beforehand.

Incidentally, Lane said he also sold N95 masks as part of his normal stock, but since the beginning of the pandemic, his inventory “disappeared really quickly.”

Kevin Berger, TownandCountryToday.com

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