The Swan Dive in Toronto was preparing to close at the beginning of December due to the pandemic, and with little to no revenue, the bar’s owner did not know how long the bar would be able to pay for its rent.
Within days after announcing to the community that the bar would be forced to closed due to the pandemic, customers came and bought the bar’s entire stock of beers. Now it appears the bar, unlike many other small businesses in Toronto, will have a chance to reopen in the future.
The Swan Dive now hopes to reopen in February, with occasional days as a to-go bottle shop between now and then.
"We were blowing through our savings and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to pay rent towards the end of the month," bar owner Abra Shiner told CNN."So, I wrote on Facebook asking people to come buy the beer we had in our stock room ... and it worked. The post went viral."
Shiner told CNN that the sales coupled with government subsidies will allow the bar to survive until March.