Construction of the new Sarnia Produce retail store is moving along despite hitting some pandemic-related roadblocks.
President and CEO Dean Troiani said they had hoped to start construction last March, but everything stopped when the pandemic was declared.
"We really didn't start construction until August, and that was our timeline March to August," said Troiani. "We were supposed to have our store open for August of 2020. That didn't materialize. So, we're just very patient and we're not blaming anybody, there's nothing we can do about it. We just have to look at the final picture and just keep pushing forward."
Troiani said a lot of the delays are tied to supply shortages.
"It has been very difficult. Our windows and our doors, something such as common as those building materials, have been months in delay. So, we were waiting on a few items initially. We were very fortunate with our steel fabrication, because that was contracted last winter and the steel was all built and fabricated for us and it was in storage. So we were very, very, fortunate in that respect."
Troiani said the cost of the 11,000 square foot facility on Lite Street in Point Edward has climbed from $3 million, to $4 million dollars.
"We hit a couple of stumbling blocks along the way and some was with soil. We had issues that we had to deal with and of course everything comes with a cost. Everything else, equipment, everything, goes up with a pandemic, so we're forced to pay higher pricing."
Troiani said their contractor, Jake Wellington with Wellington Builders, is doing the best he can and they're hoping to open by mid-summer this year.
"We'll be carrying a lot more products, like organics, that we can't really house in our current retail space. So we've worked with a few suppliers that have approached us, that would like us to carry their products and they're unique, different items, that you typically won't find in a grocer. So, we just want to be that little specialty store that will accommodate everybody's flavour."
Troiani said operating the business during the pandemic has been quite the ride.
"It's been a yo-yo, because restaurants are open, restaurants have closed, just take-outs and then they removed the patios. I really feel for our wholesale customers, because it's very difficult for them."
But, he said Sarnia Produce is weathering the storm.
"We're very fortunate that we have adaptability. We can concentrate and focus on the retail end and we do home deliveries, we do curbside pickup, our market is open for walk-in customers and in that sense our business has just escalated."
Troiani hopes to further build on their retail success when the wholesale business bounces back.