LOCAL BUSINESSES IN Bayview may be suffering, but many small business owners are trying to be hopeful that, with the support of the community, their shops and restaurants will be able to weather the economic storm.
“There’s a strong feeling that people still want to look and feel their best,” said Darren Mason, the owner of Andrew’s, a high- end shop at Bayview Village.
The store reported a decrease in sales for the month of February. But Mason said sales have reached a plateau, and that he’s working as hard as always.
“If you work in retail, you always work long hours,” he said. “When times are good, you work really hard, and when times are bad, you work really hard.”
What has changed significantly, he said, is that suppliers aren’t stocking the same amount of inventory they have in the past.
“Once a particular item sells, it sells,” he said. “Even if we want to reorder it, we don’t have the opportunity because they’re not restocking.”
Though the winter months after Christmas are traditionally slow months for retailers and restaurants, some Main Street businesses are reporting deeper losses than previous years.
“In January and February, we found we’re trailing about 10 per cent lower,” said Tony Loschavio, owner of North York restaurant Paese, and L-Eat, a catering company. “We’re finding that the general consensus is that people are very cautious, to make certain that they’re getting their money’s worth when they’re entertaining.”
As a result, Loschavio said he’s revised the menus, switching to filling, comfort foods, like chicken and mashed potatoes, instead of the upscale items like foie gras.
“People are cautiously entertaining,” he said. “We know that a lot of people have lost their jobs or aren’t comfortable to show flash, so we’re suiting simpler tastes.”
“You have to put a smile on your face and take steps forward,” said Wendy Goldman, owner of Your Clothes Friend, a Bayview Avenue clothing shop.
“Instead of saying, ‘Poor me,’ you have to understand that, yes, it’s a recession, but we’ve been there and done that before.”
Small businesses are crucial to building strong communities, said Rebecca Reuber, a professor of entrepreneurship and small business at the Rotman School of Management.
“It keeps people in the neighbourhood, for healthy, vibrant communities,” she said. “[Small businesses] understand very well the needs of people in the neighbourhood.”
But even though retailers are trying to be positive about the future, local BIAs reported closures, citing high rents and a drop in sales.
“The merchants are really desperate,” said Daly McCarten, a representative of the Uptown Yonge BIA, which represents the Sporting Life area. “It’s so hard to plan anything for them right now.”
McCarten said she and the other members are debating whether to increase advertising, and she is currently looking at radio promos in an effort to attract shoppers to the area.
Your Clothes Friend’s owner, Wendy Goldman, hopes that as the weather heats up, so will business. “Once the weather changes, it will bring people onto the street and business will pick up,” she said.
