One wall of Offline Cafe's impressive collection of games (Elizabeth MacLeod)
The Offline Board Game Café is helping to stimulate brains, fend off boredom and foster community while city residents practice social distancing during COVID-19.
The uptown cafe is offering free, same-day delivery of games and puzzles to all customers in Saint John, Rothesay and Quispamsis.
“I plan on continuing it as long as I can, I panic-ordered so many puzzles. People were messaging me … about puzzles, and I was like, ‘don’t worry about puzzles!’” said owner Susan Pass.
Customers can order games from Offline’s website and try out its new weekly subscription pack. The minimum order is $25 with orders to be made by noon to be received at 5 pm.
At the moment the café’s stock is not as flexible as Pass would prefer, due to the warehouses being closed because they are non-essential services during the coronavirus crisis. But she is working together with the uptown comic and games store, Heroes’ Beacon, to fill customers’ orders to the best of their abilities.
“They have a lot of stuff that we don’t so I’m happy to send them business too,” she said. “We’ve just been supporting each other and if somebody wants something, I’m paying him full price for it, he’ll drop it off at my front door and I’ll include it in the order.”
Offline Cafe’s Door Drop (Offline FB)
Offline and Heroes’ Beacon had been referring customers to each other long before the pandemic arrived.
Pass has also been promoting local Saint John businesses through her daily “Local Love” posts on Offline’s Facebookpage – Heartbreak Boutique, The Art Warehouse and Riff Raff Skate Shop being a few examples.
“I’ve just been trying to support other local business owners,” she said. “We keep buying each other’s gift cards or small purchases; we’re trying to keep that feeling going.”
The Offline Café had reopened last July after being closed for a year due to fire and water damage, but Pass has been practical and level-headed in the face of the unexpected crisis that has hit all small business owners.
“It was the best timing and the worst timing in a way because any time before this, I don’t know if I would have been able to even imagine carrying on, said Pass. “If this had happened right after we opened again it would have been like, ‘okay, the universe hates us.’ I would have tried to figure something out, but I don’t even know if it would have been a possibility.”
She firmly believes Saint John’s local business community and the support businesses give to each other are what will help them survive and pull through.
“My sister used the word ‘agile’ – a small business is much more agile in times like this,” Pass said. “This wouldn’t happen in bigger centers because I don’t know if the support and the belief exist there for small businesses.”
She is looking forward to business returning to normal and greeting customers face-to-face.
“God, I miss their faces,” said Pass. “One of my staff members came up to the window…and we touched hands through the glass.”
