Testing the theory that there is no ideal time to do anything, a local cannabis company is planning to open its first retail location in Victoria’s Fairfield neighbourhood at the end of this week.
While the COVID-19 pandemic wreaks havoc around the world, Pacificanna sees its intended opening date as a positive sign amid the negativity.
“There’s no point in delaying — there never will be an ideal time,” said owner Darren Saunders, whose company has plans for other stores in the region.
Saunders said the current climate has created plenty of instability and an ever-changing retail landscape.
“And it seems the current state of the world is not going to go back to normal anytime soon,” he said, adding if they had only recently started work on the location, they might be less inclined to open. “But we have been sitting on this location since October 2018. It’s been a long road.”
With renovations on the 1,100-square-foot retail space complete, the decision was made to open this week.
Pacificanna has its final City of Victoria site inspection Tuesday. If that goes well, Saunders said, they will open their doors April 17 in Fairfield Shopping Plaza between a bank and a hair salon.
The company, which has locations running in Port Hardy and Williams Lake in B.C.’s Interior, is expecting a slow start. They have included the now-staple retail elements of clear plastic barrier at the payment terminal and floor-spacing markers to ensure physical distancing.
Training and product-knowledge seminars for the store’s eight staff have been conducted remotely, and the number of customers allowed in the store at any one time will be limited.
Pacificanna’s move to open is one of the few bright spots on the horizon. While grocery stores and liquor stores are reporting strong sales, many of Victoria’s retailers have closed temporarily, or have had to significantly alter the way they do business.
“A lot of our members have closed,” said Jeff Bray, chief executive of the Downtown Victoria Business Association. “Some have found ways to do things online, but it’s a fraction of what they would have done before. It’s all about just trying to keep afloat in some capacity so when we get to recovery, they can open their doors again. There’s a tremendous amount of angst among retailers and restaurants right now.”
For Capital Iron owner Mike Black, the new world has meant cutting back opening hours, running with a skeleton staff and having employees cut back their hours by 20 per cent so they can all remain employed.
He said they have heard a lot of positive feedback just for staying open and having essential inventory available.
Customers are buying everything from camping supplies, including boil-in-the-bag food, to gear that will help them take their minds off the stress.
“They are buying cooking supplies, stuff for the backyard and garden, tonnes of seeds, potting soil, bird feeders and even barbecues,” he said. “They are also buying standard patio sets and hot tub chemicals — not so much the hot tubs, but those who have them already are buying plenty of chemicals because they are using them more often.”
Black said Capital Iron is offering new options such as shopping via video chat, email or phone, or by appointment. The store is also offering pick-up service, and any order over $50 can be delivered free locally.
Dale Olsen, owner of Outlooks For Men in the downtown core, which faces a second month of being closed behind papered glass windows, said he is working on an online presence, but isn’t expecting it to be his saviour.
Olsen has also offered limited-appointment shopping.
“Beyond that, I am like everyone else, just trying to figure out how long this will be and how do I survive through it,” he said.
Like other retailers and restaurants, he has been offered rent deferral, but he said that would just push off debt to another day.
“For retailers, that is the biggest battle, rent relief,” he said. “It’s hard to pay rent when you have no one coming through the door.”
James Watson, owner of Curious Comics’ three Island locations, has been closed since March 25, when he laid off all 13 of his staff.
Some of his landlords have been reasonable, but he said there is one that won’t give any breaks, which has been hard to handle, given that the store is dark and there is little income.
He said he has been selling on eBay, and working with customers via phone and email out of his Johnson Street store. When possible, he drops off orders at customers’ homes himself.
Legends Comics and Books, which closed its downtown Victoria doors early in the crisis as well, has also been selling via email, phone and Facebook, to be delivered or picked up at the door.
Watson said federal help — such as the $40,000 Canada Emergency Business Account loan through BDC — has made a difference, and might help him get going again when the social distancing rules relax.
“I’d like to think [all three stores will open again], but because no one knows how long this will go, no one can really say,” he said. “If this goes until July then no, they won’t. How can we keep on paying rent till then?”
Black said no matter what programs governments put into place, if the situation lingers until June or July, some businesses might not survive.
“If you are a grocery or a liquor store, or a courier delivering for Mr. Bezos [Amazon], you will all survive,” he said. “But how does the guy who owns a hairdresser last?”
Black said if local businesses aren’t supported, the downtown core could look like a ghost town when all this is over.
And not just the downtown, said Lisa Nitkin of Pets West in Royal Oak. In an email, Nitkin said after the rash of panic buying for groceries and pet food and supplies subsided, the decline in sales was immediately noticeable.
“Yet, it is interesting to note that the pet industry as a whole is not hurting. It is the online business that has grown by leaps and bounds this month, and will continue to do so in the coming months,” she said. That means local small businesses will lose out to massive online and big-box companies.
Any federal help businesses apply for will need to be repaid, and that is going to be a hardship, given that revenue has been slashed and fixed costs such as rent still have to be paid.
She said more government support is needed. “We hear so often that small business is the backbone of the economy. If this is true, then government needs to hear that our backs are breaking and that does not bode well for the future of the economy,” she wrote.
