Together we can make 2021 a great year, Orillia!
As we all know, 2020 was the hardest year for a lot of us. As the calendar flipped over from 2020 to 2021 I'm sure we all went to bed wondering what kind of year we have entered into.. We are optimistic this will be a big year for Cards and Coasters!But first lets reflect on 2020. The bad in 2020:In 2020 talks of "The new norm" and "Before Covid" ruled our vocabularies. It was a year full of panic buying and social distancing. It honestly sucked. The deck was stacked against most local business owners and it wasn't easy. We weren't able to run our business as we wanted to, we cancelled events, refunded sales and gave away tons of spoiling food. Sales were down and so were our spirits, Our board game library went untouched and most of our tables went into storage. We tried our very best to improve, adapt and change. There were high points but definitely more low points. We weren't eligible for as many government programs as we hoped and we struggled.The good in 2020: Cards and Coasters survived, adapted and learned. We were able to reflect on our first 2 years and think about the things we did and didn't like about our business. Lockdown provided us with time to plan for the future, take a much needed break and determine what we want to be in the future. We focused more on drinks, less on games and special events. This allowed us to connect with an entirely different demographic, introduce our selves and intrigue them to come back in the future. We had time to catalog our entire Magic Card inventory and create this website. We are hopeful this gives us an online presence and a gateway into the future. If lockdowns happen again we will have this website and hope it can be a valuable tool no matter what comes our way in 2021. We purchased a ton of new equipment for everything from drink making to arcade machines. The time allowed us time to do more complicated pickups, fix damaged equipment and find great deals. When we open back up we are going to have so much more to offer then before. Every bad story has a silver lining. This stories silver lining is that Cards and Coasters has been given a new appreciation for our opportunities, once the market opens back up, we will be hyper focused on being better then ever and we just cant wait. We have told so many of our customers that in 2020 we burned into the ground, at the moment we are a pile of ash, but in 2021 we will birth into a much more powerful beautiful phoenix. What is to come in 2021 for Cards and Coasters? Cards and Coasters has so many ambitious amazing plans. We are unsure of how many we can accomplish, given the rising numbers and uncertainty of our current reality. What we do know is, We will: -Continue to offer more drinks then ever, bringing in new equipment to get ready for summer 2021. -Participate more in the weekend street shut downs. -Expand our retail options. -Launch this website. -Continue collecting board games, arcade machines and more fun assets for customers to play. -Open our hours back up to regular operation.We hope to do the following:-Move to a bigger location. -Finish our drink cart and offer our drinks on the go. -Fully reopen. We cant do it alone.. We are unable to know for sure how all this will go, but Cards and Coasters is very happy to say we are from Orillia, we love our city, we love our customers and we want nothing but the best for all other local businesses struggling with us. Please help us out in 2021, we need all the support we can get. Cards and Coasters is going to bring so much to people long term, we want to be a great place for families and young adults to do an activity which is mentally involved, games are hard and require planning and strategy. They are light hearted and provide an excellent outlet for anyone of any age. We want to provide jobs and give back to the community one day, but at this current time were not in that position, Covid has taken that away from us. Overall we are still optimistic we can overcome these obstacles. We are passionate about being the best reasonably priced safe reactional option in Orillia. If we have it our way Cards and Coasters will be a main stay in the Orillia landscape for along time to come. We are so thankful for the support we have had so far to this point and we are so hopeful for what support we will get from this amazing community in the future!Here is to a great 2021 Orillia! Lets not forget that life can be fun too! Thanks for a great 2020 and heres to an even better 2021!-Cards and Coasters
