'Lost all of those customers': Erin businesses impacted as major construction projects close roads, create detours

Businesses in Erin, Ont. are feeling the impact of ongoing construction as the town installs a new wastewater system.

Trafalgar Road in Hillsburgh, a community in Erin, is currently the epicentre of construction that led to road closures starting in April.

The road is also the town’s main street where many businesses are located.

“We’ve lost about half of the people that were coming before the construction started,” Emily Phillips, a co-owner of Em & J’s Rotisserie Chicken and Grill, said.

The food truck is located on one end of the road. The road is closed to the public through traffic near the halfway point.

“Random people that are just going to Orangeville, or coming from Orangeville, or going to Georgetown, we don’t really get those people anymore because everyone has to do a detour,” Phillips said.

A detour loops public drivers around a route that takes five to seven minutes to complete. The drive from one end of Trafalgar Road to the other typically takes a minute or less.

Roadwork and detours are causing a negative impact on Em & J’s Rotisserie Chicken and Grill in Erin, Ont. (Stefanie Davis/CTV News)

 

With the land already rented, the owners fear that a move would add additional expenses - such as needing a new energy hookup.

“The road is open for local traffic, school buses and emergency vehicles only as always communicated,” Lavina Dixit, the senior communications officer with the Town of Erin, said in an emailed statement.

“Currently the closure is being strictly implemented due to safety reasons and expedite the current work.”

On the other side of the road closure, Consumers Cannabis is also feeling the effects of the construction.

“Especially with the warmer months coming in, a lot of the through traffic and cottage goers were starting to come up and go north. It was definitely starting to pick up, and as soon as the construction started, we kind of lost all those customers,” Michael Bertani, the owner of Consumers Cannabis, said.

“They did have maintained access for all businesses at the beginning [of construction], and then as it did progress, we started to notice it did start to get slow.”

Both businesses say they want the public to know they’re still open for business, despite the construction headaches.

At Em & J’s, the owners say they’d like to see people be able to drive through the street again and for some more clarity for drivers.

“[The town] did put up these little signs saying local shops are open, but it doesn’t really director anybody because if you see a road closed sign, you kind of get detoured,” Jeremy Cyr, the other owner of Em & J’s, said.

The town said staff have been in regular communication with affected businesses, with regular meetings and drop-in sessions held to provide updates and get feedback from the community.

“The town has allocated $41,000 to the Business Impact Group specifically for the marketing efforts and helping businesses through the construction period,” Dixit said.

Construction is expected to be complete by fall 2024.