When disaster strikes
Two small business owners rebound from tragic circumstances
Sometimes the unthinkable happens.
Kelly Oswald’s Whistler store burned down while she was away in Mexico leading her annual retreat on how to live a more peaceful life.
“Ironic or what?” said Oswald whose spiritual gifts, clothing and services store, The Oracle, was hit with “a double whammy” last November.
“The fire on the Friday night took the building out — the electrical, fire alarms everything,” she said. No one was hurt. My staff were able to salvage stuff and clean up. We were confident we could reopen.”
But a few hours later, a hot spot reignited the fire, dashing earlier hopes of rising from the ashes.
“The second fire killed it. We’re still out.”
The fire affected six neighbouring businesses as well as Oswald’s 700- square- foot store.
From Mexico, Oswald phoned the insurance company and the landlord, then rushed home. She lost her American Thanksgiving and Christmas sales — and much of her stockpiled inventory. Sopping wet clothes, ruined stationery and store fixtures ended up in Oswald’s living room.
“We were waist- deep in product,” Oswald said. Damage came mostly from water and breakage. “A lot of ceramics were broken because the fire department just has to go in,” she said.
Everything had to be pain stakingly accounted for, photographed and
Accidents do happen and people do pass and to do it again, I would have had $ 2 million or $ 3 million of life insurance.
NATALIE PEREMAN
OWNER OF ON THE FARM COUNTRY MARKET IN SQUAMISH
packed, still wet, for the insurance company. There was no point drying ruined merchandise.
The biggest challenge was figuring out who had authority to make decisions. “Everyone shows up at once — all the insurance companies, landlords, business owners, restoration companies and rumours tend to fly,” Oswald said.
The biggest surprise was how long everything takes. “We still have our damaged product and it’s now February,” said Oswald, who is still awaiting the insurance company’s OK to dispose of the product.
Safety was an issue entering the damaged building, “so we are now the owners of hard hats and safety vests.” She had to hire movers and rent storage.
A longtime entrepreneur, Oswald, 53, had bought full insurance coverage that also covers expected profit based on The Oracle’s previous three years. Insurance premiums for the nine- year- old, nine-employee business cost about the same as car insurance.
In the meantime, rather than twiddle her thumbs while waiting for the Whistler location to be rebuilt, Oswald and her husband, James, are opening a new 1,000- squarefoot store in North Vancouver where they have a new grandchild. “I told you we look for silver linings.”
The store is scheduled to open this Easter.
Down the road in Squamish, a different kind of tragedy struck Natalie and Andrew Pereman, who spent seven years planning an ambitious new business.
The idea was to open a farm market, a cluster of small artisan businesses and renovate an existing garden centre on one acre just off the Sea to Sky Highway. The new family business would allow Andrew, a carpenter working up north, to “be around to see the kids grow up.” The young parents of two were finally rolling up their sleeves and working on site two years ago when Andrew slipped on the greenhouse roof while he was power washing. He fell to his death.
Natalie Pereman pulled all her inner resources together and kept going.
The community rallied. “I had complete strangers come to the door bringing dinner,” Natalie said. “Andrew’s friends that were carpenters came and helped. They don’t know how to grieve, but they know how to work.”
In the two years since her husband’s death, Natalie has opened the garden centre, the retail shops, a playground complete with picnic tables and public washrooms at her On the Farm Country Market.
She revised her plan for artisan stalls. “It turned out artisans don’t want to have a retail stall seven days a week,” so now she has a barbershop, hair salon, toy store, bead store and coffee shop.
The former realtor who started a successful visitor magazine when she was just 19, took a tip from Intrawest’s model for developing ski areas, and tried to plan for nine different streams of revenue. “You need food and a coffee shop and to create a gathering place. If I didn’t have the playground, young moms wouldn’t go there to hang out. We have free live music on Friday afternoons in the summer time.”
If she had a chance to do things again, she’d buy much more insurance.
“People say, ‘ We have enough to cover our mortgage. Well, big deal.’ That’s great that you have your mortgage covered, but if one of the people passes away and you have kids, how do you buy groceries?” said Natalie, 36. “Accidents do happen and people do pass and to do it again, I would have had $ 2 million or $ 3 million of life insurance.”
Both Oswald and Pereman’s staff put forward their employers for Small Business B. C. awards. The Oracle is a finalist for Best Workplace and On the Farm Country Market is a finalist for Best Community Impact. Winners will be announced Feb 27.