There is a Facebook group helping Timmins businesses stay afloat during the pandemic.
Started by four local community members – William Orr, Tammy Williams, Norman Dwyer and Shelley Carpenter – the group holds auctions with all proceeds going to a different business each week.
The Timmins Small Business Support Auctions is currently on its fourth auction and is accepting donations for the fifth recipient.
So far, businesses such as V’s Body Mod, Total Martial Arts Center, Timmins Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy and Diamond in the Rough Tattoos and Piercings have been supported through weekly auctions. The next recipient will be Loralee’s Hair and Beauty Salon.
On average, about $800-$1,000 is raised per auction. The tattoo shop has also sold $1,100 worth of gift certificates during the auction, Dwyer said.
“We’re driving business to them, we’re raising money on the side,” he said. “It’s working out very well and, hopefully, we get over this lockdown sooner rather than later and get back to some kind of normality.”
Choosing which business to feature has been a challenge because there are so many of them that have been impacted by the pandemic, Dwyer said.
So, auction organizers came up with a category. The criteria are that a business has to be brick and mortar and had to be completely shut down with no option of offering curbside during the lockdown.
"So we can prioritize them over other people for now. But who's not hurting? Which business is not hurting from this?" Dwyer said.
There are about eight items posted for each auction. Auction items are posted on Thursday night and bidding is open until Tuesday at 8 p.m.
Community members and businesses, as well as the City of Timmins, have donated a wide variety of items for the auction. Items have ranged from pizza certificates to a brand new snowblower.
“Donations have slowed a bit, I think with the businesses being allowed to open again,” Dwyer said. “We hope to continue for another while. Because the doors are open doesn’t mean businesses aren’t struggling to keep them open.”
People can bid by leaving comments in the group. Once the auction is done, comments are turned off. There’s also an anti-snipe rule to prevent people from bidding at the last minute.
The group's admins also experimented and held silent auctions for bigger items for two weeks in a row but it didn’t work out, Dwyer said.
"We're brand new, we were making grounds. We wanted to try different things and brainstorm different concepts, and I don't think that one was working for us," he explained.
The admins have a chat where they discuss how to organize auctions each week and decide their responsibilities.
“The whole idea is not to make this a full-time work on top of all our jobs,” Dwyer said. "None of us own businesses. The one admin does sell a bit of items on the side but nothing major. We all have our own jobs."
The community response has been positive, Dwyer said. The Facebook group, created on Jan. 27, currently has around 1,700 members.
“I feel good about it. It’s very positive and uplifting,” he said. “I didn’t expect thousands of people to sign up in a couple of weeks … Timmins has responded in a great way and, hopefully, that continues.”
As long as the auctions continue to generate money for local businesses, the auction organizers don't plan on stopping anytime soon, Dwyer said.
