Select Ontario retailers will reopen later this week in time for Mother's Day.
In his daily briefing from Queen's Park Wednesday, Premier Doug Ford announced that garden centres will be allowed to fully reopen as of Friday at 12:01 a.m. On Saturday morning, hardware stores will be allowed to reopen.
Garden centres had been given the green light to re-open, as long as they adhered to strict health measures, earlier this week, but for curbside pickup only. Customers will now be able to enter garden centres and hardware stores while observing strict social-distancing guidelines.
In addition, Ford announced that as of 12:01 a.m. Monday, retail stores with a street entrance will be allowed to reopen, but for curbside service and delivery only.
Ford said that with the number of new COVID-19 cases trending down, the measures designed to slow the spread are working, and making the easing of retail closures possible.
"As the trends improve, we can move forward with reopening more and more of our economy and getting people back to work," said Ford.
The reopenings are part of the provincial government's first phase of starting up Ontario's economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
All public health measures remain in place.
Essential construction will also be expanded to allow below-grade multi-unit residential construction projects like apartments and condominiums to begin, and existing above-grade projects may continue as well.
Ford had announced earlier Wednesday morning that the provincial emergency orders will be extended by two weeks to May 20.