Most local businesses are suffering these days, and many will close permanently as a result of the COVID-19 lockdowns. These businesses are run by your friends and neighbours, and their loss would change Greater Victoria. We have asked local business people to describe what they are facing.
A commentary by the owners of Kharma Salons.
COVID-19 has affected each and every one of us in some way or another. Whether it is the inability to visit your family and friends, working from home, lining up for groceries once a week, postponing travel plans, and for some, cancelling their weddings, this virus has had profound consequences.
Some of these consequences are substantial for non-essential services, such as ours. We have had to close the doors to our businesses, and subsequently lose our livelihood for not only ourselves, but our entire staff.
We are writing in hopes of bringing more attention to small business owners who are still having to pay leases during this time of mandated closures. Residential rent has been addressed, but commercial rent has not (by the time you are reading this, maybe it will have been). Things are changing so rapidly that we are hopeful our government has a plan to help small businesses.
Kirstin Lebrun is the owner of Kharma Salons’ Oak Bay and West Shore locations, and co-owns the Saanich location with Tressa Yanchuk. That location opened just eight months ago.
We are a beauty salon providing services such as hair styling, waxing, lashes, microblading and laser treatments. We have three locations in total, and are thus on the hook for three commercial leases. None of our lease agreements has pandemic coverage. Who would have thought it needed to be included?
As you cannot maintain social distancing while providing personal beauty services, and we are deemed non-essential (although many of you would disagree, as that box dye is looking awfully tempting right about now), we closed our salons March 17, laying off 36 employees.
We are retailing products via contactless pickup or delivery and providing gift cards. We are also on supportlocalyyj.com, taking deposits on future services, and providing custom-colour kits for our clients to generate small amounts of revenue.
Despite all this, our income is down 98 per cent.
We know the importance of social distancing to keep our community safe and slow the spread of COVID-19. What is beyond frustrating for small business owners is seeing individuals not taking this seriously, carrying on as if nothing is happening, while we have had to close our businesses with no end in sight.
The real fear is that our businesses will not make it out of this.
Deferral of rent is great for the time being, and much appreciated. However, depending on the number of months rent is deferred, and how those costs are built into subsequent lease payments, it could raise operating costs to a point that is not sustainable.
The last thing we want to do is tell our staff we cannot provide benefits anymore, or education money once we open again, because we are drowning in rent. How is that fair?
We are hoping the government comes up with some form of commercial rent forgiveness, or potentially freezes our lease payments, however we are not confident. The 75 per cent wage subsidy would not work for our businesses, and is still weeks away from eligibility.
The $40,000 loan with potential 25 per cent forgiveness is a step in the right direction, but taking on debt is not a solution.
The future leaves us fearful, but hopeful that our government will step in, and our community will come together to help.
Helping small businesses right now is critical to our future, whether that is purchasing products from your hair salon, ordering takeout from your favourite restaurants, shopping online stores of local businesses, buying gift cards or signing petitions using the hashtag #savesmallbusinesses.
Most importantly, though, just be there for us when life goes back to normal. We need all the support we can get.
Also, we would like to give a big thank you to all the front-line and essential workers who are risking their health daily to try and keep the rest of us safe and provide us with what we need during this time.
