It seems like some businesses in Alberta continue to face challenges created by COVID-19. From finding and retaining customers, to managing health for staff and shoppers, it has never been harder for small and medium businesses to stay operational. Visa Canada recently did a Back to Business study and it found that one-third (33%) of Canadian small businesses do not consider their local community supportive of their business during this difficult time. Many of those small businesses expect it will take 10 months before they are back to normal, the longest wait of all countries VISA surveyed. However, the survey did find that 77% of Canadian small business is optimistic about the future. Connor Curran is with Local Laundry, a Calgary-based clothing retailer and he spoke with Russell about the VISA survey.