Archive News from Digital Main Street

Capture Me Photobooth is an event service that provides affordable photo solutions for parties and events. The company is owned and operated by Crystal Libutan, who originated from the Philippines where she was a professional event planner. She has since moved to Slave Lake, where she saw a need for a more competitively priced photo booth service for her area.

To Tom and Rose-Marie Kerr, owners of a custom stamp shop Frog’s Whiskers Ink and Kerr’s Corner Books in Campbellford, adaption is fundamental. For nearly 25 years, the pair have closely watched the subtle shifts in their customer’s shopping patterns. “We’re always changing which is one of the reasons why we’re still in business,” says Kerr. “We learned to be fluid a long time ago.” 

“Having a website is great exposure and it allows us to show people what we’re doing. It was really good what they built for us, and it was really easy to work with Grace. This is something I couldn’t have done by myself, so it was nice to have the support.”

It’s hard to emulate music lessons in a virtual environment – there’s a feeling that’s lost in the exchange. At least that’s what James Gannett found when he and his wife Hollie Gannett had to translate Progressive Music Studio’s in-person music lessons to a virtual model during the pandemic. “Music’s such a personal thing,” says Gannett. Lessons aren’t like business meetings, there’s more exchange going on. “You have to somehow transmit musical emotion and empathy and all that kind of stuff through this screen to somebody you (may not have) actually seen in person.” 

“The whole experience was nothing less than amazing.” - Dave Klassen, the founder of Kleen Slate Landscaping

To Ester Garcia, Immanuel’s Kitchen is a symbol of adversity. Started in 2015 after 30 years of cooking Spanish food, the London pop-up Mexican restaurant has given Garcia a sense of self-worth she’s grappled with her entire life.
 

The weekend after Brazilian bakery Padaria opened in Toronto’s Midtown, a line-up snaked around the block. It was May 2020, the first few months of the pandemic, and Fabiana Del Bianco, who owns the bakery alongside her brother Tiago and business partner Maira Tozzi, had no idea how it would be received. But they did know they’d picked the right spot to open it: on Yonge Street just south of Eglinton, an area that is slowly becoming a favourite for a growing Brazilian diaspora. “We all live here so we knew there was a big Brazilian community in the area,” says Del Bianco.  

 

Jeannine came to the DSS with questions about bringing her business online and how to build an online presence. Coming from a traditional brick and mortar business, Jeannine was looking for ways to expand her reach and ensure that she remained current in a competitive market.

Our Digital Service Squad worked with Michelle and Janice to offer foundational strategies to build good social media profiles. From there, the DSS offered tips on creating quality social media posts with an emphasis on posting more regularly