This is one of the Plexiglass barriers, installed by Mouldings and More, last spring in the Government Street Liquor Store in Penticton.

Image Credit: Submitted/Jeff Leonard

When COVID-19 triggered a lockdown of businesses last spring, West Kelowna’s Mouldings and More was a key contributor to keeping some operating and helping others reopen.

The demand for their talents at creating custom acrylic barriers is more refined since numerous stores are now selling “what they’re viewing as a barrier,” Tracy Spooner, a company sales rep, told iNFOnews.ca.

“We’re still producing them,” she said. “We’re probably a little more specialized now – accommodating unusual shapes, curved desks, things like that. We’re probably dealing with more of the higher end situations, like a doctor’s office or chiropractor’s office where they want to make it look long term or part of the original set up.”

One of their more unusual jobs was to create an acrylic barrier for a resort that divides a large hot tub, allowing different family bubbles to share the space without being in contact with other groups. It hangs just above the water line and is attached to the security railings surrounding the hot tub.

Spooner has only seen pictures of the installation.

“It looked like, if you were in your family bubble and I was in my family bubble, I could sit in my quadrant and know that my space was divided from the next unit,” she said. “I was quite intrigued when I saw that.”

As restrictions are eased in the coming months, Spooner is expecting that some of the larger hotels and restaurants will to turning to Mouldings and More to increase their safety and capacity.

They’ve already designed and installed a number of barriers in gyms and fitness centres so people can have an air space barrier as well as physical distancing while they work out.

Some of their original installations have been upgraded.

“We’ve been hired to replace the hanging ones that were purchased or installed, initially, thinking those would be a quick fix,” Spooner said. “We’ve since replaced them with the counter-based ones that can be cleaned and don’t sway.”

They were so busy in the spring helping businesses to re-open that they had little time for their regular business, which included a lot of picture framing and display cases.

That part of the job has taken off now because of COVID.

“It’s Santa’s workshop at my store,” Spooner said. “Everyone’s back to their homes and not able to travel so they’re looking around and seeing things they can refresh, or they’re realizing that sentimental things are important.”

The easing of the pace also meant the company could finally deliver on its promise of donating 20 per cent of its net profits on any jobs done in April and May to food banks.

READ MORE: West Kelowna company leading the way as we turn into a Plexiglass world

That began with a $2,500 donation to the Central Okanagan Food Bank back in the spring, which was matched by their first grocery store customer, Lakeview Market.

Just recently, now they’ve had time to catch up on their bookkeeping, they donated $10,000 in cash and Plexiglass to food banks and Salvation Army branches in Kamloops, Vernon, West Kelowna and Penticton.

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