Quinpool Road Opens Online Storefronts

Devin Stevens - allNovaScotia
April 14, 2020

Businesses on Quinpool Road now have their own web portal to help boost sales during the pandemic.~ 

Marketed as “Stay Home, We’re Open,” the Quinpool Road Mainstreet District Association launched the site, www.quinpool.shop on Monday with links to businesses already providing online shopping options. The association is also planning to help those of its 120 members without an e-commerce shop to build one at no cost.

“There’s no question (businesses) are hit, and hit hard,” association general manager Karla Nicholson said in an interview.

Businesses will have to cover credit card payment fees for the online payment service, which is currently 2.9% of the purchase amount and 30 cents per transaction. Canada Post integration, which calculates shipping costs and generates labels, goes for $99 a month for companies that need it.

Nicholson said she reached out to Larry Burke of the street’s boutique marketing firm Burke & Burke after the coronavirus outbreak to brainstorm ideas on how members could continue offering at least a portion of their goods and services.

She says Burke mentioned John Leahy’s Quinpool Road-based web developer immediac, which has been busy since the COVID-19 outbreak building online shopping sites for everyone from breweries to office equipment suppliers and home and garden centres (see 2020-03-19 - allNovaScotia).

With 50 businesses already online, the association felt it had enough to launch and Burke & Burke and immediac will work to add more as their online shops are built.

“We thought it was the best and most efficient thing we could do for our members and turn around quickly,” said Nicholson.

The Quinpool shops, services and restaurants have modified their operations to safely operate in the pandemic and to comply with government protocols.