Downtown business owners mull future as economic shifts deepen

A local business owner says while a “stay in business sale” social media post was tongue in cheek, for many, it is a stark reality as small business owners who face potential closures early in the year.

Decor Out the Door owner Audrina Steciw says the past season has been tough for many, with factors like downtown construction and parking making a big impact.

“Some [of the factors] impacting us all are things like when they did road work on our road last year and they closed the road for eight to 10 weeks,” she says. “They didn’t close the road entirely so that I could do anything insurance-wise but closed it effectively so that people weren’t coming.”

Steciw says another difficulty comes in the form of having to go up against the convenience of online shopping.

“We try and do things to make it convenient for people too, but not everyone knows that or not everyone remembers that that’s the feeling they have when they’re in here.”

Across the street, the owner of Grayne and Co has decided to close shop when her lease ends at the end of March. The business’s owner, Laura Brown says the economy has changed how people shop and believes people are paying closer attention to what they can afford.

“So unfortunately you know this is something that takes a step back and we’ve been seeing it for the last year but I’ve really noticed it in the last six months,” Brown says.

Brown adds moving forward her plan is to get through March and then she will be looking for a job.

“It will be something new I’ll have to do again it’s different when you work for yourself, I mean I used to work a more you know corporate job before this and I just love what I’ve done here, but back to the real world I guess now.”

Brown is one of a handful of local small businesses that have announced their plans to close shop.

While Sekiw says she is not planning on closing and was being a little cheeky with the “help us stay in business sale”earlier this month, it is sharing with people what could happen. She says the truth is more hard years like this one or hard Christmas’s like the one her store saw this year and she doesn’t know what the future has in store.

“For all the things I hear all the time that are generally positive and great and I love hearing those things, I need to be shown it. The store needs the patronage to exist and so I don’t plan on closing.”