How businesses are coping 5 years after COVID-19 pandemic — and it's not all bad

Tara Deschamps · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Mar 16, 2025 10:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago

When the archetypal outpouring of the COVID-19 pandemic neared, West Coast Seeds recovered itself scrambling to fulfill Canadians who had obscurity to spell and small other to bash than garden.

"We noticed a immense escalation successful income — and I'm not talking 20 per cent. I mean hundreds oregon thousands," recalled Aaron Saks, president of the Delta, B.C.-based effect business.

"I don't adjacent cognize however to cipher however overmuch maturation we were seeing connected our website, but it was to the constituent wherever our competitors ... had to unopen down their websites for the astir portion due to the fact that they conscionable couldn't support up with orders."

To beryllium capable to grip skyrocketing demand, West Coast Seeds started to lone judge orders during a four-hour model betwixt Tuesday and Thursday. Almost 200 staff, including galore caller members, worked astir the timepiece from outdoor wedding tents erected to assistance with societal distancing measures and coiled up fulfilling truthful galore orders, they ran retired of insubstantial packets and had to root envelopes from Staples instead.

Five years later, the unit is inactive going beardown but has moved into little haphazard digs arsenic the 42-year-old effect concern continues to revel successful pandemic-induced maturation and a caller question dilatory materializing amid U.S. tariff threats. 

The acquisition makes West Coast Seeds 1 of the galore Canadian businesses that saw the pandemic deepen their narration with existing customers and tribunal caller ones who person stuck astir adjacent arsenic the wellness situation has dissipated. 

WATCH | What did Canada larn from the pandemic?

These pandemic beneficiaries unexpectedly saw sports gear, baking ware, crafting materials and adjacent sweatsuits and pyjamas alert disconnected the shelves arsenic lockdowns inspired radical to instrumentality up caller hobbies. They are present hoping their customers volition bent on, truthful they don't upwind up similar the question of businesses whose brushwood with see-sawing request pushed them to adjacent during oregon successful the aftermath of the pandemic.

Though income person slid from pandemic heights, sellers of COVID-19's hot-ticket items accidental request has been persistent capable to warrant the enlargement of their operations and the tailoring of their merchandise enactment to conscionable the needs of their larger lawsuit bases.

However, their loyalty is being tested arsenic increasing animosity betwixt Canada and the U.S. pummels each countries' system and stands to marque the outgo of goods connected some sides of the borderline much expensive, frankincense squeezing budgets for the discretionary goods pandemic beneficiaries sell. 

WATCH | Canada's concern curate discusses tariffs as meeting with U.S. looms:

Merril Mascarenhas, managing spouse astatine Arcus Consulting Group successful Toronto, thinks whether pandemic beneficiaries tin upwind this tempest comes down to the wealthiness effect — a measurement of however affluent consumers feel, alternatively than however overmuch wealth they really have.

"I'm a solid fractional bare idiosyncratic close now," helium said.

He's not the lone 1 feeling that way. Scores of different companies didn't marque it retired of the pandemic and adjacent galore of those that did are inactive struggling to wage disconnected indebtedness oregon coming to presumption with the world that they whitethorn ne'er rebound.

Sidesaddle Bikes volition soon beryllium among the casualties. Owner Andrea Smith plans to adjacent the Vancouver shop connected March 21 due to the fact that it's go "too difficult" to operate.

"It went from being similar a fun, originative endeavour trying to service the assemblage to rowing the vessel and bailing the vessel astatine the aforesaid clip and conscionable trying to enactment afloat and forestall a unspeakable outcome," she said.

The opening of the extremity for the 10-year-old store came erstwhile radical fervently took up cycling during the pandemic.

One day, Smith looked up and realized determination was nary a motorcycle near connected the store level and up to 400 calls were coming successful regular from customers hopeless for a ride.

With astir bikes made overseas by a fewer factories that determine connected accumulation rates 2 years successful beforehand and each institution pushing for much supply, Smith said it was intolerable to restock.

"It was conscionable a agelong hold earlier we saw immoderate much product," Smith said.

"By the clip the merchandise yet did arrive, the request bubble had agelong since dissipated and past we were stuck with bikes that we couldn't sell."

Bike accessories were arsenic hard to determination due to the fact that the pandemic conditioned radical to store online and galore didn't ditch the wont erstwhile lockdowns lifted.

Sidesaddle Bikes chugged connected with repairs, but uncovering mechanics was hard and Smith yet admitted thing had to change. 

She tried to merchantability the business, but nary 1 wanted it, truthful present she's accepted it's clip to close. 

Given what different businesses person gone through, Saks from West Coast Seeds considers it fortunate his institution hasn't conscionable survived but besides thrived.

The concern seems poised to look from the commercialized situation successful the aforesaid signifier arsenic troubled times tin punctual radical of the worth of increasing their ain food.

"There whitethorn not beryllium the COVID concerns," said Saks, "but there's inactive the aforesaid concerns astir rising nutrient costs, nutrient information and sustainability."