Ontario retail stores with street entrances reopening for curbside pickup, delivery today

Beginning today, stores in Ontario can reopen for curbside pickup. The new measures follow a weekend in which the spread of coronavirus slowed to rates the province has not seen since March.

The announcement was made last week by Doug Ford and is a move to slowly get the economy going again.

Stores can now provide curbside pickup as well as delivery, which Ford said will help thousands return to work.

Garden centres and nurseries were able to fully open on Friday and hardware stores followed on Saturday.

In Toronto, Mayor John Tory urged people not to shop unless it is completely necessary.

“I would say to shoppers, if you really don't need to get something, don't. I think at the end of the day we are still saying it is going to be better if we don't have crowd scenes,” Tory said when speaking with CP24 on Monday.

He added that retail stores should use the safety measures that have been implemented by large stores over the past months.

“With respect to retailers, I would say please show the kind of discipline and ingenuity that the big retailers have shown in organizing lineups and making sure that inside the front of the store that it is organized,” Tory said

On Friday, Statistics Canada released data showing that 689,200 people in the province lost their jobs in April. There were an additional 403,000 job losses in March.

There were just 294 new cases of coronavirus reported in Ontario on Sunday. The province’s total number of confirmed cases is now 20,238 and there have been 1,634 deaths.

Over the weekend, Ford said that parks will also reopen today but playgrounds, camping areas and beaches will remain closed.