Marilyn McCrimmon

May 2020 A History of Canada in Ten Maps – Epic Stories of Charting a Mysterious Land. By Adam Shoalts (hardcover, 2017; softcover, 2018) I BOUGHT THIS BOOK AS A GIFT for someone who prefers non-fiction over fiction. The title was uninspiring (to me) but the trusted booksellers at Munro’s Books assured me that the book was a winner. They were not wrong. Each of the book’s 10 chapters tells the story behind one of the 10 maps that are included in the book, beginning with the Skalholt Map made in 1590 by an Icelandic scholar, and ending with John Franklin’s 182

PEPPER’S FOOD, a local family-owned business, has been a fixture in Cadboro Bay for 35 years. When General Manager Cory Davits was asked how the virus had affected business, he said, “In every way.” Once COVID-19 restrictions were announced in mid-March, Pepper’s quickly got busier. “People went on a buying spree, and then there were too many people in the store,” Davits says. He started asking the customers to line up outside, allowing only ten customers in the store at a time. Pepper’s has always offered online ordering either for customer pick-up or home delivery. Home delivery in

May 4, 2020 SALON MODELLO on Cadboro Bay Road temporarily closed its doors on March 21. Co-owner/operator Moira Dick described it as, “A complete shutdown. A 100 percent loss of revenue.” She says, “It’s been really sad. I had to lay off all my employees.” Like many small business owners, Dick is grateful for the government CERB program for her employees. “I am eligible too as I’m not getting a wage. That goes into paying the rent of the building.” She noted that for most small businesses, the challenge is how to keep paying the rent on their buildings with no income coming in.

FRONTRUNNERS FOOTWEAR is a locally owned and operated business co-owned by Nick Walker and Rob Reid. Reid opened the first Frontrunners store in Victoria in 1988; Walker and a partner opened Frontrunners in Langford in 2005; and then seven years ago, Walker became a full co-owner with Reid when all five shops (Frontrunners Victoria, Frontrunners Shelbourne, Frontrunners Langford, and New Balance stores in both Victoria and Nanaimo) were amalgamated into one company. Frontrunners closed their doors to the public mid-March to protect the safety of customers and staff, and pivoted to online

Pagliacci’s co-owner Solomon Siegel POPULAR BROAD STREET EATERY Pagliacci’s has none of its usual lineups these days. “There is no table service, the core of our entire business,” states Solomon Siegel, general manager and co-owner of the long-time family-owned restaurant. “We have pivoted to delivery and pick-up only.” Siegel has had to lay off the majority of the staff, keeping only management and a few cooks to facilitate the take-out business. He’s very grateful for the impending government assistance for the laid-off staff. “It made the layoffs more palatable to me. I hav

Before the pandemic (left) and now MAUREEN GARDIN AND MIKE GARNETT are the owners of the independent coffee shop, Bean Around the World. The popular Fisgard Street café ordinarily opens at seven in the morning and welcomes customers for the next eleven hours. Now, they open for half an hour a week in order to greet a small group of customers who come to pick up whole beans. “In these weird times, it’s such a pleasure to see people,” says Gardin, then adds, “We are almost completely closed. It’s a giant difference.” And of course, it comes nowhere close to meeting the bills.

Munro’s Books has temporarily become an online bookstore. MANAGING PARTNER JESSICA WALKER describes the day she had to phone the part-time employees, as well as some full-time employees, to let them know they were laid off, as one of the worst days of her life. “There is just not enough work for everyone.” Nor revenue. In early March they learned that the cruise ships were cancelled, prompting Walker and the remaining full-time staff to start preparing for a new reality. The store closed to the public on March 15. Jessica Walker “The first week, t