Being a vendor during a pandemic: starting or buying a business
A few stories of vendors who launched into their new journey in 2020 — ELO New Style, Jessica Caissie’s anti-fog masks, and the Mets Acadiens fusion kitchen.
Among all the vendors of Dieppe’s Market, some of them founded or bought a business during the Covid-19 pandemic. For our second article in this series of blogs, here are a few stories of vendors who had to deal with the challenges of the pandemic right after starting their new journey.
A creative mother-daughter project. In April 2020, Caroline Boudreau and her 8-year-old daughter Élodie started making craft earrings: "My daughter is very creative and spends a lot of time on YouTube searching for inspiration. One day she told me ‘Mom, we should make earrings!’" A few months later, ELO New Style was born.
"When I first started, there were not many people nor tourists. Many regular vendors around me were not selling anything." But the founder concludes on a positive note: "We see a lot of support from the public. Clients are supporting the vendors and are extremely comprehensive."
A useful and innovative solution! Jessica Caissie, last fall, was looking for an anti-fog mask since she wears glasses. She found a YouTube tutorial, made her first reusable anti-fog mask and improved it. The trick: a circular shape and a specific fold so expired air doesn’t fog the glasses. "I could put my glasses, remove the elastics, move like I wanted to, my glasses were holding it at its place and I did not have an annoying fog problem anymore."
A new type of "fusion" cuisine. The local business Mets Acadiens was bought by Kha Quach in February 2020, just before the pandemic. He created an Acadian and Chinese food fusion: "We have seafood chowder served with potatoes, so we made the seafood chowder with rice noodles." Distribution expanded to Jean Coutu, Corn Crib, MacArthur’s Nurseries, and the George-Dumont hospital.