Published On: September 30, 2020 | By Becca |

October has arrived which means it’s Small Business Month!

This year, we are working with the amazing project, Talking Shop, to share great stories of local small businesses.

Talking Shop is a project to tell the stories of the local owners and entrepreneurs behind your favourite shopfronts, especially as we battle through these difficult times. On the Talking Shop blog, you can find conversations with local small business owners and leaders and news from the industry. The aim of Talking Shop is to create a community of #supportlocal advocates.

From Talking Shop’s “About” Page:

“Talking Shop is about the stories of the people behind our favourite local boutiques, the retail spaces that bring vitality, culture and expression to every town and city around the world.

During the current pandemic, knowing and supporting out neighbours has become more crucial than ever before. With high rents and now-stagnant stock ordered well in advance that is putting shop owners into financial jeopardy, there is a real danger of our city core turning into a ghost town by the time we finally emerge from our stay-at-home mandate. With the unique fabric that holds our city together unravelling a little more every day, what can we do?

While this project certainly won’t solve the greater issues surrounding this crisis, what it can do is give voice to a segment of entrepreneurs who are facing unique problems and finding themselves searching for a solution on how to find more rope for their businesses that they have carefully and lovingly built over the years. We also want to extend this narrative once we are past the suffering of this pandemic to provide insight into the challenges and realities of building a successful independently-owned business and guidance to those looking to follow a similar path.”

Who is behind Talking Shop?

Meet Metka and Michelle, the two creative friends behind Talking Shop. Metka makes connections, Michelle makes photographs, they both make words. They had been working on a project together right before the pandemic started, and when both were affected by temporary layoffs in March, they decided to expand their collaboration into something that would support the city and people they love. It has been their honour and pleasure to talk with the many amazing small business owners and entrepreneurs in this vibrant city and give them a positive venue to share their stories.