I hope everyone had a great holiday season with close family and are staying safe. 2020 has been an unprecedented year for all small businesses. Tanning salons have been hit hard with no real pretanning season so far. The salons that seem to be doing better than other are salons that have built their EFT programs over the last few years. Unless we see vacation travel open up, we need to all change our direction to promoting staycations until we hit the pretanning season for summer. I heard from salons talking about clients that normally just pretan for vacation now coming back because of the winter blues and hearing the message on social media about benefits of vitamin D. All we need to do now is promote the production of vitamin d as the Kimball 2017 research reported on a typical sunbed that produces UVB – 2 to 5%

With the vaccination program now up and running we should hopefully see restrictions reduced. This should reduce anxiety of going out. Mask wearing and reducing social gathering will be still a major part of controlling the new cases until herd immunity is established. New cases seem to gradually be going down except for Ontario and Quebec. At the time of writing this we still have not seen what the holiday season will do to the new case numbers.

The JCTA Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held on Nov 18^th by webinar.  It has been a tough year for everyone, including the JCTA. Revenue was down by 35% due mainly to the decision made by the Board of Directors to waive monthly membership payment for April, May, and June. Members that paid in full also will get an extension on their membership when they renew, and some will be prorated. Also, there were members that renewed late which was understandable due to COVID-19. In the middle of March, the Board decided to cancel all advertising and marketing, which helped reduce losses.

The AGM presented the NEW insurance program exclusive for JCTA members. This started just as COVID-19 hit. So many salon owners may not even know about the program. The program was designed by salon owners. The policy now includes both property and professional liability in one policy. Overall has better coverage and the average salon is saving about 26%. Whether you are a member or not I suggest everyone check out the program here and get a quote https://tancanada.org/insurance/ . The application is easy to complete and will take you about 10 minutes or less to complete. Once you complete the application, you just send to JCTA@brokerlink.ca. In a few days you will receive a quote. If you decide to go ahead with the policy just becomes a JCTA Smart Tan Combo Member if you are not one already.

The marketing program last year as I said ended middle of March and should have gone to July. Still even with shutting down the campaign 3 ½ month early we had 5.3 million impressions, and on average 727 Canadians a day went to the consumer website, where they see the closest 3 salon members near them and get information about services offered by members, along with tip about indoor or outdoor tanning.

This year’s marketing program started November 1^st and is all about Staycations and making sure Canadians do not stop using our services. I have been in the business for more than 35 years now and when vacations were not an option, I found that Canadians purchased long term packages (3 months or more) instead of pretanning packages. My wife’s salon in West Kelowna has seen our long-term membership almost double since we reopened the salon after the shutdown. We will continue to market this style of campaign, so long as funds are available. So far, the numbers going to the website this year have triple from last year. Make sure your salon is listed on the website by becoming a member and supporting these marketing efforts

I found this very interesting how much research that has and is still on going on vitamin D and UV light as it relates to COVID-19. The Vitamin D Society did their World Vitamin D Day on November 2^nd and has come out with a new program called UV→D NOW which seems to be promoting all the benefits as it relate to natural production of vitamin d in the skin with UVB exposure and additional photoproducts. This includes the use of sunbed as a surrogate to sunlight. Check out the latest VDS video on UV.You may want to follow and share the information. Just remember to be careful what you share on your business pages. JCTA members have access to information and how to share scientific information.

If you are interested in the full presentation of the JCTA 2020 AGM whether you a member or not, please send an email to info@TanCanada.org and I’ll send you a link to view.

Federal Relief Programs continue to change, and members are updated weekly. The latest programs/changes to programs came out in November. Bill C-9 passed November 19^th for Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) and extension of Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS). Both will be retroactive back to October. You can get full information on the programs here “Federal Support for Businesses”.

Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) has changed for period 8, 9 and 10. You can get up to 65% wage coverage. The multiplier used for period 9 and 10 has increased 0.8 if you were not down less than 50%. The CEWS has been extended to June 2021, but calculations may change in January 2021. Right now, you can still use the averaging of your January/February 2020 sales to calculate how far down your sales are. Remember you can change as of period 5 to this calculation instead of what you may have been using. If you did not do this, you can reapply on your CRA Business account.

The Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) provides a direct and easy-to-access rent and mortgage subsidy of up to 65% of eligible expenses to qualifying businesses, charities and non-profits. The subsidy rates are in effect until December 19, 2020 and follows the CEWS calculation. This support is available directly to tenants this time. Qualifying organizations that have been significantly restricted by a mandatory public health order issued by a qualifying public health authority can receive an additional 25% of rent support through the Lockdown Support. The combined effect of the rent subsidy and the Lockdown Support is that hard-hit businesses, non-profits and charities subject to a lockdown can receive rent support of up to 90%. The rent subsidy and the Lockdown Support are available until June 2021. The program started November 23^rd to apply and October is the first month that you can apply for.  The program is administered through the CRA and was easy to do.

The Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) provides interest-free, partially forgivable, loans of up to $60,000, to small businesses and not-for-profits, that have experienced diminished revenues due to COVID-19 but face ongoing non-deferrable costs, such as rent, utilities, insurance, taxes and wages. Businesses that did not have a commercial bank account before March 2020, can now apply by opening a business account. Business owners can apply for support until March 31st, 2021 through their banks and credit unions. If you pay the loan back by Dec 31^st, 2022, you only have to repay $40,000.

Provincial Programs do not forget to check out your provinces’ programs. I have found the easiest way to find these programs is to search by putting in the name of the province and typing after the province COVID-19 Relief or Program. An example of the latest provincial programs is the Grant for $5000 from Manitoba for businesses being closed or Ontario Grant of $1000 for PPE cost and small business Grant from $10,000 to $20,000, and reduction in taxes and utilities. BC also has a program for a grant up to $15,000.00. All these programs and more, JCTA members are notified about them weekly.

All these Government programs should help our salons stay healthy. The JCTA is here to help you get through these unprecedented times of COVID-19.

Stay Safe Everyone and follow government protocol to protect you clients. We will get through this together. All the Best for 2021.

Steve Gilroy, JCTA Executive Director