Belleville store owner continues to defy shutdown order

Customers waiting to enter Park Provisioners Barbershop & Haberdashery when it opened Wednesday morning. Photo by Daniel Presley-Spinks

By Beatrice Toplitsky

BELLEVILLE – The owner of Park Provisioners Barbershop & Haberdashery on Front Street downtown is keeping his store open in defiance of provincial lockdown orders.

Kyle Thompson re-opened the store at 11 a.m. Wednesday. About a quarter of an hour later, he was fined $750 for the opening. A police officer and two Hastings-Prince Edward Public Health officers arrived to deliver the fine, as well as a temporary closure order from the health unit. But the doors remained open after the police officer and health officials left, and they were still open as of Thursday afternoon.

Two officers with the local health unit, along with  a Belleville Police officer, arrived shortly after the opening to tell owner Kyle Thompson he had to close down. So far, Thompson has refused.  Photo by Daniel Presley-Spinks.

Their appearance led to a small uproar among the 15 or so people waiting outside the clothing store to get in. There were also 10 customers – the limit the store had set – inside at the time.

“Walmart’s open! Go to Walmart!” a few of the outdoor group shouted to the Belleville Police officer as he approached.

One man stopped the officer as he opened the door to enter, saying, “You’re not really going to fine this guy, are you?”

But with the store remaining open, the group outside clapped and cheered as customers emerged with their purchases.

“It’s busy in there,” one woman told the waiting group as she exited the store.

In addition to the 10-customer limit, the store is requiring customers to wear masks. But most of those in the cluster waiting to enter weren’t wearing face coverings.

Thompson posted a video to the store’s Facebook page a week ago in which he announced his intention to re-open in spite of the lockdown order. He said he was not doing it to save his business but to make a point.

“People need to acknowledge and understand that these current restrictions and lockdowns and measures that our government has imposed on us, and our media has shamelessly supported, are doing far more damage than COVID ever could,” he says in the video.

He goes on to say that the damage to small businesses “can’t be cured by some miracle vaccine.”

As of Thursday afternoon, the post had gathered almost 300 reactions, many of then “likes” and “loves” with a few “angries” mixed in. There were also more than 500 comments, many of them supportive.