Calgary businesses still hurting from flood
CALGARY — Nearly six months after the flood, it would be easy to assume Calgary’s small-business community is back to normal.
Of the nearly 1,000 businesses in the city that sustained some form of damage in June, fewer than a dozen remain closed. Shop and restaurant owners have sorted through the muck, turned the power back on, and done whatever else was necessary to get the doors open.
But appearances can be deceiving. Whether they’re waiting on disaster assistance funding, feeling the pinch from lost revenue, or trying desperately to regain their old customer base, many floodaffected businesses are still struggling. And the Calgary Chamber of Commerce says for many, the next few months will be “critical.”
Typically a slow quarter already, the first three months after the Christmas shopping season could be a tough go for some local businesses, said chamber president Adam Legge. Many owners— especially those who were closed for a long period of time postflood — are already reporting sluggish sales.
“The difficulty is once people stop going to a place, they potentially break that habit,” he said. “So it’s really tough to get people back in the door — most businesses were up and running within 30 days, but those that have taken months to get back on their feet are really experiencing slow, slow traffic.”
Krista Hopfauf can attest to that phenomenon. Her shop, Rewind Clothing Consignment, reopened last month in its original location after flood damage forced her to set up shop for most of the summer and autumn in a temporary space eight blocks away.
But, in spite of all Hopfauf’s advertising efforts, customers aren’t coming in the way they once did.
“For me, it’s felt like a setback of a couple of years. … Like starting way back to the point where you’re trying to build up your business again,” she said. “You’re recuperating from unexpected expenses, unexpected loss of revenue, and then on top of it, you’re not returning to where you were at. My sales this year compared to last year have been down every month since the flood.”
Of the nearly 10,000 applications received under the province’s disaster recovery program, 1,380 were for small businesses. So far, only 40 payments have been issued. Municipal Affairs spokesperson Tim Wilson said since the criteria for relief is more stringent for businesses than for individuals, the government has created a Small Business Working Group that will be devoted specifically to these files in the weeks and months ahead.
“We’re working as hard as we can to get through every applicant’s paperwork and help them recover,” Wilson said.
Legge said he hopes customers will frequent floodaffected businesses — in Calgary as well as in High River, Bragg Creek, Turner Valley, and Black Diamond — to help stave off a wave of closings a year or two from now.