Many Charlotte County small businesses that are using innovative strategies to overcome the restrictions placed upon them by social distancing. 

St. Stephen business woman Abby Pond, founder of Queen of Cups Lingerie had no choice but to innovate in order to keep her business alive just days after social distancing became the new norm across New Brunswick and the rest of Canada.

"I have two main revenue streams -- making custom bras and teaching people how to make their own undergarments," said Pond. "Both of those require face-to-face interactions. I had been expanding my business by doing pop-up shops across New Brunswick. In three days after COVID-19 hit, my revenue stream dropped to zero because I didn't have the ability to meet with people in person. I could no longer do business the way I had been doing business. Fortunately, I had a woman reach out to me online asking for a custom bra to be mailed to her while she was in isolation, and this gave me an idea." 

Pond is now measuring her clients for tailored lingerie in virtual fittings. This strategy has unwittingly opened up her market internationally. "I used to be limited to just a New Brunswick market, but now I'm able to reach an international marketplace with virtual fitting," said Pond.

Katy MacDonald, manager of the clothing and leather accessories store The Leather House in Saint Andrews realized she too could reach her store's devoted customers online is the face of social distancing. 

The Leather House has been a landmark store on Water Street in St. Andrews-by-the-Sea since it was founded by manager Katy MacDonald's grandfather over 50 years ago. Katy's mother, owner Vicki MacDonald, has expanded the Leather House over the past few decades for a one-floor leather store into a two-floor destination shopping experience that's open 12 months of the year. That is, until now. To reach the store's devoted clients during the COVID-19 era of social-distancing, Katy quickly became a self-taught web designer and product photographer and launched an online store just last week.  

"The support has been unbelievable," said MacDonald. "We had a ton of orders the very first day. To anyone out there looking to start your own online store, I recommend. I'm not tech savvy, but I figured it out."