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The Battlefords Chamber of Commerce Back-to Business Toolkit is available on their website and offers guidelines for businesses as they return to daily operations. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)
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Chamber offers guidance with back-to business toolkit

May 21, 2020 | 2:57 PM

The Battlefords Chamber of Commerce has distributed a back-to business toolkit to help offer guidance for local establishments as a number of businesses around the community return to daily operations.

Phase 2 of the Saskatchewan Re-Open plan kicked off earlier this week, meaning local retailers and select personal care services were eligible to reopen their doors; joining the various medical services, golf courses, and parks and campgrounds which were included in Phase 1 of the plan.

With more businesses receiving the green-light, Chief Operating Officer of the Chamber of Commerce, Linda Machniak said she’s been pleased to see a real positive response to the toolkits from businesses within the community.

She said the more information available to businesses, the better decisions they can make about their own situations and how they can protect their staff and their customers.

“We’ve had comments from some people that they’ve appreciated it for sure,” she said. “We did have some calls asking about signage or some of the different things in there, just about where they could get them, but we have had members doing some really great work making sure [personal protective equipment] is available here in the community and that signage for social distancing is available as well to businesses, so I think it’s been really positive.”

Machniak said the implementation of Phase 2 this week marked a large benchmark in the community’s effort to kickstart the economy once again.

“I think for sure this Phase 2 was very significant,” she said. “We’ve seen not only the traffic in the community increase significantly, but we’ve also heard from retailers that opened on Tuesday, they had very positive responses from customers that wanted to get back out and shop.”

She added while the still-to-come, Phase 3 will feature another new wave of businesses set to open once again, the Phase 2 group was a critical chunk to getting the ball rolling again.

The Government of Saskatchewan announced the target date for Phase 3 is set to begin on June 8.

Machniak said if businesses have questions or are unsure of where to get resources, they can contact the chamber at 306-445-6226 or online at b.chamber@sasktel.net.

Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1

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