Windsor businesses hope this is the last of COVID-19 restrictions

In the seven months that restaurant ownerBudiWibowo has been open,he says he'sbeen through two periods of tightened COVID-19 measures and hopesthis is the last one.

On Thursday, Doug Ford announced that some restrictions will easeon Jan. 31, including the pause on indoor dining. Restaurants, movie theatres, shops, event spaces and other locations will be able to reopen at 50 per cent capacity on that date. A few weeks later, on Feb. 21, more restrictions will loosen, including an increase in gathering size limits.

This glimmer of hope is what local business owners are hanging on to, as many say the closures continue toimpact their finances.

"Hopefully this is the end of it because I don't want to keep [going] on and off, on and off again, because we lost a lot of business right now," said Wibowo, who is the chef and owner of Bally's Kitchen.

He estimated that he's lost about 60 per cent of his customers this time around.

"It's pretty hard, pretty tough," he said."[50 per cent capacity] I think it's better than nothing at all basically."

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Business owners say they have taken a hit and hope this is the last of any more COVID-19 measures.

Wibowo said he has friends in Toronto and Windsor's restaurant industry who are also feeling the pinch and are hoping this is the end of all restrictions.

Mahr Mahr, the manager of Mandy Plus in Windsor, also said he wants to see places fully reopen.

He said that whilehis shop is a fast food place, it always helps to have indoor diners and he likes to have customers eat the food while it's hot.

"When you sit down here and eat it's going to taste different than when you bring it home to eat," he said.

Mahr added that he knows of businesses that were forced to close during these most recent restrictions, because they "lost a lot of business."