TORONTO -- A month and a half ago, Sarah Gratta closed the door to her shop ‘Too Good General Store’ on Main Street in Unionville.
She has been trying to keep her sales up ever since.
“It has been a rollercoaster of ups and downs of emotions,” Gratta tells CTV News Toronto. “When I opened the store I was all about brick and mortar and the experience. It was about bringing people back to the experience of having conversations and learning about where they were buying things from.”
Since the closure, Gratta had no choice but to shift her focus to selling the one-of-a-kind, unique gifts her store offers to an online format. Too Good General Store has gone from selling about 30 items online, to around 600.
“We’re doing everything we can to still connect with our customers, connect with the community, stay afloat and stay positive,” she says. “But it’s scary.”
Gratta’s story is one of those featured in a photo series called ‘Not a Goodbye’ – created by Clarissa Di Gioacchino, owner of Golden Hour Photography.
“It’s a play on the phrase, ‘It’s not a goodbye it’s just a see you soon,’” Di Gioacchino tells CTV News Toronto. “I wanted to spread this message if we garner together as a community, we can really support and help these businesses through this really tough time.”
In her post on social media, Gratta’s story is accompanied by photos of her standing in front of and inside her shop, taken by Di Gioacchino. The post is accompanied by the hashtag #NotAGoodbye.
Di Gioacchino, a wedding and lifestyle photographer, has seen her own business take a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our industry is pretty much at a standstill,” she says. “I was racking my brain on how I could support other business owners. So where my mind really went was, how do I try to foster these connections and try to build a community?”
From there, Di Gioacchino crafted the idea of photographing these other small business owners at their place of work – from afar.
“So the art of the initiative was that they would stay on the inside of their building, I would call them on the phone and we would talk on the phone, and I would take the photos from a distance,” she explains. “As things progressed and we started to see that restrictions weren’t going to be a temporary thing, I actually switched to taking photos of people through FaceTime or ZOOM.”
Gratta was one of the first clients that Di Giaocchino connected with.
“Clarissa reached out with this program, ‘Not a Goodbye.’ She came, she heard our story and she took some photos through the window,” says Gratta. “I love the series. All the small businesses she has highlighted - I knew of one or two of them, but now I know of a lot more and I’ve reached out and I’ve bought a few things from the different ones.”
Gratta adds that Di Giaocchino using her skill to shine a light on others has been “amazing.”
“It helps me, it helps her, and really right now all we can do is help each other get through this,” Gratta says.
There’s no profit involved for Di Gioacchino, who says the reward is building connections with other business owners going through something similar to her.
“We’re just trying to spread awareness when, for them, consumer aren’t coming and knocking on their doors,” she says. “Scrolling on your feed and reading a story from someone who might be in the same shoes as you, or resonate with a family member of yours, I really think it can create that emotional response and that positivity at a time when we definitely need it.”
And while Gratta says there has been an outpouring of support for her and her small business during the COVID-19 pandemic, she says that best case scenario is that people continue to “think local” in the future.
"It fills my heart and I just hope that it continues,” she said. “And that people don’t forget all this community pride and support when this is all over."
