On Wednesday afternoon, the province announced that non-essential retail stores can open to offer curbside pickup and delivery, as of Monday, May 11.

The stores are being asked to follow all the health and safety guidelines, in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We haven’t been sitting on our hands. Whether it’s releasing our framework for reopening or putting in place the workplace safety guidelines needed to help businesses adapt to the new environment, we’ve been laying the groundwork for the safe, measured, and gradual reopening of our province,” said Premier Doug Ford.

“As the trends improve, we can move forward with reopening more and more of our economy and getting people back to work.” he added.

As early as Friday, garden centres and nurseries will be able to open for in-store payment and purchases, operating under the same guidelines as grocery stores and pharmacies.

Same goes for hardware stores, who can offer those services as of Saturday.

The province is also easing restrictions on construction to include projects like apartments and condominiums.

Ontario also extended its emergency orders on Wednesday, which will now be in place until at least May 19.