COVID-19 challenges the way Yukon local businesses are run

COVID-19 challenges the way Yukon local businesses are run

By Nellie Njootli | March 28, 2022

As the pandemic hits its two-year mark, local business owners in Whitehorse, Yukon have adapted their businesses. Through the powers of social media, websites, a community, and an attitude, business owners say, “Challenge accepted.”

When the Yukon’s Chief Medical Officer of Health declared a public health emergency on March 16, 2020 and the resulting lockdown of non-essential services, many Yukon local business owners were sure it meant the end.

“I honestly thought that COVID would be the end of my shop,” says Douma Alwarid.

Douma Alwarid runs an eclectic, curated shop full of Yukon-made goods and art. Unorthodox Yukon had only been in business for a handful of months before the pandemic hit. Like many local businesses in the Yukon, it didn’t have a dedicated social media presence or a website. COVID-19 changed that.

The Maintenance Years: Onto the internet

In a March 17, 2020 post announcing temporary shop closure, Alwarid shares that she plans to post pictures of her shop’s contents on Facebook and Instagram while trying to get a website running.

A simple, foundational website was launched and an Instagram presence was built. Getting online and learning the ropes of Instagram was a learning curve, but that didn’t stop Alwarid.

She posted… and it took off. “It just organically grew. In the first year [traffic on social media and the website] …it kept this place open.” The social media content was driving people to the website, encouraging an audience to become customers. Unorthodox Yukon was nearing 2000 followers by the end of May 2020. Now, two years on, it’s nearing 10,000 followers.

Rolling forward towards the horizon: Now what?

The state of emergency was lifted in the territory on March 16, 2022. The remaining public health mandates of required masking and proof of vaccination were lifted on March 18, 2022.

As the public health guidelines fade into an odd sense of a post-pandemic normalcy, local businesses find themselves in a much more secure position than they were in the first days of the pandemic. The adaptations and bold perseverance have equipped business owners with hopes of what comes next.

For Douma and Unorthodox? Sights are set on expanding the store. The dream is to build a bigger and better website; a website that not only functions as a spot for retail, but also functions as an educational platform. Alwarid hopes for a site that links to the talented creators whose incredible and colourful works occupy her shop.

Unorthodox isn’t alone – other local businesses in the Yukon have made a similar move to the online space in response to challenges brought by the pandemic. For businesses in the Yukon, it’s long overdue. It takes what the Yukon has to offer – talented indigenous artists, a vibrant arts and culture scene, and a tight-knit community of creators – and opens it up to the outside world.

“It’s elevated the uniqueness of Yukon businesses.” Says Alwarid.

It is impossible to know what the future holds in a time when a worldwide pandemic has turned our world upside down. One certainty, however, is that people will adapt to challenges thrown at them. Opportunities for growth and change are abundant. And it is this mindset, along with support from a community, that can carry people through times of uncertainty and hardship.