A visit to the local corner store, or dépanneur, is a noticeably different experience in the Pontiac now, as the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic has caused product scarcities, a decrease in clientele and a need to implement health precautions in local businesses.

These health precautions could be found, for example, at Thompson’s Dépanneur in Portage-du-Fort.

Nicole Thompson, who co-owns the store, said they are putting a limit on the number of people allowed to come in at once and have put lines in front of the cash registers, which now have plexiglass on top, to direct where people should stand when they are served.

There are also arrows on the floor to direct people when they are going through the aisles.

“None of our staff got sick. None of our customers, [which] we heard of, got sick,” she said.

Claudia Dubeau works at Coin Picanoc, in Otter Lake. Measures have been implemented at her store, as well, despite the difficulty in doing so in certain cases.

“The Purell was hard to get,” she said. “My sister, she got me some, so we have two jars. I think somebody told me there’s a Home Hardware in town that has some.”

Both Dubeau and Thompson said they received messages from health officials to avoid putting on gloves during work and Thompson explained the reasoning behind them.

“The gloves are not a good idea because they give a false sense of security. “People don’t wash the gloves after they touch something. It’s just as bad.”

Thompson said she’d rather see people wash their hands with soap and sanitizer rather than wear gloves. The employees also wear aprons at work, which they wash once they get home.

“A lot of people are calling to see if we have potatoes,” Dubeau said. “Apparently there is a shortage of potatoes in Shawville.”

Pontiac Dairy was able to supply potatoes to the store, which has them in stock now. Thompson’s is also experiencing an increase in demand for certain groceries.

Now that there are people in town that cannot go out, Thompson’s has turned into more of a go-to grocery store rather than the corner store they were before, causing them to be running out of bread, for example, more often.

Business has also slowed down for Thompson’s. Newly-implemented travel restrictions on the nearby bridge to Portage-du-Fort impacted the traffic of the grocery store.

“It made it impossible for, I would say, 75 per cent of my customers to come get what they wanted and go back home,” said Thompson. “I’ve now had to lay off four people because it went from regular business to no business at all,”

Coin Picanoc has seen better fortune following the epidemic, with Dubeau mentioning an increase in customers as well as an increase in calls for their delivery system. They do deliveries only when there are two people working or after business hours and are not charging a fee for the service.

“A lot of people are respecting [the rules] and staying in,” said Dubeau.

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