Manitoba malls open, but shoppers few and far between at Polo Park

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This article was published 29/05/2021 (1638 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CARIN Munro recently realized her wardrobe was lacking.

“I had no summer clothes — I’d guess it’s an update,” she said Friday as she smoked a cigarette outside Polo Park shopping centre while waiting for a cab. Two bags of fresh summer duds from Aeropostale sat on the concrete planter beside her.

Premier Brian Pallister has insisted Manitoba has exceptionally strong COVID-19 restrictions, but the province is an outlier by allowing malls to stay open during a time of such high spread.

Chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin has said people shouldn’t be buying non-essentials, but has refused to close stores in malls that don’t sell any essential goods.

“If you have to go shopping, it should be for essential reasons, going in and going out,” Roussin said Thursday.

“These malls are not allowed to tolerate gathering within them.”

The following day, Polo Park was mostly deserted, and those inside seemed to respect the no-gathering rule by opting against speaking with a Free Press reporter.

One man who declined to give his name said he was there to renew his driver’s licence.

“Essential, right,” he said, before rushing off.

Cleaning staff and security guards roamed the long mall walkways empty of any pre-pandemic seating areas. Floor stickers directed foot-traffic to the few who ventured out for boutique body soaps and the latest fashions or, like the young boy with the ball cap pulled over his eyes, a few new Lego sets.

The Apple Store and pretzel stand did brisk business, though.

Two men with clipboards and vests that read “compliance officer” spoke to the lone worker at a cellphone accessory kiosk.

In the food court, the tables and chairs were stacked. “For your safety and comfort, the food court is currently open for take-out only,” the sign read.

Three people were queued outside Famous Wok just before noon, while construction workers clutched bags of A&W.

The entrances to some stores were cordoned off and clerks posted nearby to remind customers only one person per family was allowed in.

The rules involving retail operations have generated controversy in other provinces.

Shortly before Christmas, Quebec ordered malls to close after they became one of the few places for people to gather as Montreal went into code red restrictions.

“They joke that if you want to see your whole family, go to Costco or Ikea. But it’s kind of true,” one shopper told La Presse last October.

In Calgary, hordes of families and teenagers at the Chinook Centre mall on Black Friday weekend in November caused an uproar, especially after police say they had to conduct a “quasi-evacuation” due to “unruly customers.”

A month later, a document leaked to media showed mall owner Cadillac Fairview had discovered staff in 18 stores had COVID-19.

In Ontario, malls have been closed since early April, despite lower case counts. Winnipeg’s active case rate is more than five times that of Ottawa, and 2.5 times the rate in Toronto.

Winnipeg epidemiologist Cynthia Carr said malls aren’t high-risk settings if people stay on the move and don’t socialize with members of other households.

“It gives the retailers a chance to stay open to some extent, but with much fewer people,” said Carr, who noted that malls don’t loom large in national data on outbreaks and infection clusters.

“A key risk place in a mall would be the food court, and they’re not open,” Carr said. “But obviously there’s potential there, always.”

She said ramping up security and enforcing a rule that only one person per household can go shopping should help prevent customers from using malls as a loophole to socialize.

“They’re trying to keep businesses able to function in the safest manner possible. There’s no zero risk, but this is the lowest-risk situation… as long as people keep moving.”

Some shopping malls are fairly well ventilated; Toronto’s public health officials have used some that are closed to operate vaccination clinics.

Back at Polo Park, a clerk at a high-end skin care store offered hand cream, squirted on the bottom of a plastic takeout cup, then beckoned a passerby inside to try a facial peeling scrub made with “real diamonds” — but only on his forearm.

She applied it with a wooden stick, but then rubbed it in with her hand, gently chiding her subject’s hand-washing skills as the dirt peeled away.

The $200 cream was on sale for half-price, with some extra hand lotion thrown in, today only.

She insisted the cream works a lot better on the face, clearing away blackheads and dirt, but couldn’t demonstrate because of COVID-19, she said, sounding disappointed.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca