Archive News from Digital Main Street

After two decades working on the sales side of the furniture industry, Kiran Katta decided it was time to start something of her own. So in the Fall of 2022, she opened Bridgeburg Furniture in Fort Erie, converting the building she and her husband had bought a year earlier into her vision for what a furniture store should be.

Investing in her social media marketing has allowed Jacqueline Dube, co-owner of Dube Designs, to tap into that customer base and bring them into the store. 

“You're always trying to bring that in-person feeling to the online space,” she says. She knew she wanted to do the same with her store creating consistency across the in-store and online experiences.  

Through Digital Main Street she was able to take a deeper dive into branding elements and figure out how to present the brand over social media. “It re-inspired me.”

In the midst of the pandemic, Heather Stark and her husband moved Willow Home, their home decor and furniture painting shop in Walkerton, into a space three times larger than the one they’d spent the previous two years in. “Quite a few people shook their head when we decided to expand during the pandemic,” admits Stark. The move only put the business – which both sells paints for DIY projects and offers furniture painting services – a block and a half further into the town’s centre but it boosted their business exponentially.  

In 2022, Root found out about Digital Main Street, a program combining grants and one-to-one support from the Province of Ontario alongside partners to help main street businesses strengthen their online capabilities and plan for the digital future. 

“There was just so much about the digital world that the business needed."

“If I did not have a website, I would've started off the pandemic in a negative place.” 

“If I did not have a website, I would've started off the pandemic in a negative place.” 

“It’s not about becoming a millionaire one day, it’s more about can we help a million people?” says Saari.