QUEBEC CITY ― With nothing to do but stay home, many Quebec residents are taking the opportunity to make improvements to those homes, Radio-Canada reports. In the Quebec City region, sales of paint, certain building materials and home décor products are up at hardware stores. “It seems like people at home are thinking, ‘We can redo part of the basement, we’ll put in a floating floor, we’ll paint’,” said Canac President Jean Laberge, adding that customers shouldn’t linger in stores during this time.
At Matériaux Lavoie in Lévis, General Manager Chantal St-Pierre has seen a hike of about 25 percent in paint sales alone. As at Canac, customers are steered around the store by staff at a safe distance, using gloves to handle merchandise and expediting their visit as much as possible. Meanwhile, Yvan Côté, owner of a Home Hardware in Quebec City, has seen a 50 percent drop in sales since the start of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
