The head of the Belleville Downtown District BIA is reacting to news that a downtown business plans to open against provincial rules next week.
Park Provisioners owner Kyle Thomson says he’ll open his shop on January 20 and is encouraging others to do the same.
Downtown District Executive Director Marijo Currier tells Quinte News while the BIA is a membership-based organization, each business is independant and can operate how they see fit.
“It’s important for us to respect that and allow people to have that freedom to speak out. This is a particularly difficult time for pretty much everybody globally, but for small businesses right now, some are desperate and that’s something we have to respect as an organization.”
Currier says they won’t advocate either way for businesses to join the movement or not, and it’s important to support all of the BIA’s members.
She added that “everybody has a unique situation” and “if you haven’t walked in that person’s shoes, then you don’t know where they’re at.”
