A hat store in Bowmanville, Ont., is one of many across Durham Region struggling to stay in business during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But this particular shop opened just weeks before the pandemic, forcing the owner into a difficult position just as they were getting started. “It’s been tough,” says Shane and Marianne James, owners of Little Buck. “We went through a six-month renovation and we kinda thought that was the nightmare, then we had to shut down.” The couple opened Little Buck — a hat shop for kids — in February.
They’ve given thousands of dollars to the NICU unit at Lakeridge Health and had already established a good online presence. But when the pandemic struck, everything changed. “It was a good February,” Marianne chuckled in an