Mississauga is moving to restrict department stores to only selling essential items

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie announced Wednesday that council members would file a motion at the Peel region council meeting on Thursday to restrict department stores from selling only essential items.

At the city’s COVID-19 briefing, Crombie approached small businesses in his region directly. After apologizing for the impact of the new blocking orders, she continued to urge the public to shop locally during the holidays using online orders, pickups and roadside deliveries.

“Our small businesses are run by our families, our friends and our neighbors in our community,” Crombie said. “We cannot afford to see them shut down permanently due to this blockade.”

He said the motion to limit large stores would “level the playing field” after small businesses complained they had to shut down for being “non-essential” while their larger competitors could sell the same items.

“(Department stores) don’t need to have additional competitive advantages,” he said.

The proposal also aims to reduce the possibility of COVID-19 transmission by reducing the amount of shoppers in large retail stores.

Mississauga is so far the only city in the region to propose this type of action, partly because it would be difficult and time-consuming to implement.

News of the motion comes after a weekend that saw overcrowded malls and long lines at stores like Walmart and Costco just days before the province’s tougher lockdown measures went into effect in two of the virus’s biggest hotspots – Toronto. and Peel Region.

“I was very disappointed to see that huge numbers of people went shopping in the malls over the weekend. This is no time to shop, folks. It’s time to stay home and go out for the essentials only, ”Crombie said Wednesday.

Mississauga reported 94 new cases of COVID-19 and 264 deaths on Wednesday.