Dear Members,
It’s been a week now since we’ve closed our beloved store – a week in which the world has turned upside down and inside out. We heard from a number of you after the store closure announcement. All the messages were kind and supportive and we thank you for that.
After the store was officially closed on Monday, Cathy and the store staff spent the rest of the week bagging and safeguarding the most valuable pieces of work, cancelling planned exhibitions, thoroughly cleaning the store and doing all the thousand and one things that it took to shut down our physical space and put most of our business on hold. Commission cheques for sales in the first half of March will be mailed out on the usual schedule. We are happy to say that we have not had to lay off any of our store staff at this point. They are all being kept on at reduced wages until at least the end of April. We felt that this was the best way that we could support our staff and show them the respect that they deserve.
Even though the store is closed, Cathy will still be working hard at looking for alternate sales opportunities for our members. This is the time for innovative solutions and we will hopefully be reporting to you soon on some creative ideas that Cathy is exploring.
Andrea and Rossanne, with help from David, remain busy with Market planning and changes to the AGM format, but have also taken on the added responsibility of staying on top of the daily government announcements of financial aid for business, checking to see what may be of benefit to us. Despite the new responsibilities that our managers and office staff are facing, they have all accepted the same reduction in pay that our store staff was offered. The conditions of their work, the rules and the law are in constant flux right now but our staff has more than risen to the challenge. They are doing a phenomenal job of keeping our Co-op operating.
The Board is in constant communication amongst ourselves and with our managers. We are doing our best to navigate this strange new world that we find ourselves in and will be sending out frequent updates.
Take care and stay safe.
Circle Craft Board
