Pointe-St-Charles adapts to new circumstances with help from Ca Va Bien Aller

Businesses adapt to new reality A Pointe-St-Charles shop is adapting to the COVID-19 crisis in three completely different ways.

MONTREAL — As Montreal's small businesses try to adapt to their new reality, one Pointe-St-Charles store is trying some new things.

While Le Flag Shop, located on Charlevoix St. is closed, owner Marc-Andre Bazergui is putting his empty store to use. He's sewing rainbow flags by hand as part of an effort to capture the essence of Montreal's unofficial new motto of Ca Va Bien Aller.

Bazergui finds himself unable to keep up with demand by himself, so he's gotten the owners of the Canada-wide company The Flag Shop to take his design and print more flags in Vancouver. He said he should have more flags by the beginning of the week.

Bazergui is also using his 3D printer to make face shields, using open-source files available online. He's currently producing about 10 a day and is giving them to area merchants.

“You've noticed a lot of convenience stores have plexiglass but then you have to go stock shelves,” he said.

Bazergui is also an ambassador for the robotics kit Lego Mindstorms EV3. While he usually travels the world to attend robotics events, he is now sharing his passion by hosting live workshops online.

“I have a few cameras and some screen shares to show the computers so they can see how this is programmed,” he said.

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