Commercial evictions moratorium too late for local fitness studio
The provincial government’s move to protect businesses won’t help Shanyn Pollard
It’s too late for Sass Fitness.
The dance and fitness studio’s owner Shanyn Pollard said she was forced to close the doors of her St. Paul Street business as of June 1.
She was unable to pay her $2,200 a month rent payments because of the COVID-19 lockdown, and she said her landlord refused to apply for rent relief programs offered by federal and provincial governments.
The provincial government initially announced a moratorium on commercial evictions that initially only dated back until June 3, and early last week extended the ban retroactively to May 1 and will remain in effect until the end of August. But Pollard has already moved out of the studio that she invested thousands of dollars renovating, while eventually searching for a new home for Sass Fitness — if or when restrictions are finally lifted.
While she said she could fight to move back in, she has already paid to have all of her equipment removed from the building and shipped to a storage facility.
“It would be so complicated. Would it be the landlord, or would it be my costs again to move everything back in? It’s just a headache,” she said.
Although the moratorium on commercial eviction was too late to save her business’s St. Paul Street home, Pollard said the community has saved Sass Fitness.
An online fundraiser has garnered $4,700 so far for her business, while other individuals and fellow business owners have also launched fundraisers of their own to help Pollard eventually reopen Sass Fitness in another location.
“It has been amazing. So many people have come forward. There have been three different fundraisers happening right now in my name,” she said.
“People have been reaching out and donating 60 per cent of what they make. It has been really awesome how people have been so supportive of the situation. People have been so compassionate. You only wish the right people had been compassionate at that time, but, unfortunately …”
Pollard said she will be sharing information about upcoming fundraise to keep the fitness studio open on the Sass Fitness Facebook page, including one being organized by Clara Clark Luxurious Bedding — Niagara.
She the Love Shop is also pitching in, donating 25 per cent of its online sales to the effort to save the fitness studio by visiting the website loveshop.ca and mentioning Sass Fitness.
“I’ll be at the Love Shop in St. Catharines, July 11, from 5 to 6 p.m. for those who want to stop by and say hello,” she said, adding both the Clara Clark and Love Shop fundraisers are slated to end July 18.
In a media release regarding the temporary moratorium on commercial evictions, Munici- pal Affairs and Housing Min- ister Steve Clark said the pandemic virus has had a significant impact on small businesses, which are the backbone of our economy.”
“This legislation will allow us to protect small businesses and help them get back on their feet so they can continue to create jobs and participate in the rebuilding of the provincial economy,” he said.
Rod Phillips, finance minister and chair of the Ontario Jobs and Recovery Committee, called the moratorium “another way we are supporting small businesses and providing much needed relief as we work to reopen the economy.”
“Working with the federal government, we are providing more than $900 million in relief to tenants and landlords in Ontario through the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance for small businesses,” he said.