"Too far underwater": Small business owner in Kitsilano forced to sell after financial stress
Metro Vancouver is no stranger to the sad stories of business closures. Many small businesses, including the Railway Club, have closed their doors after financial hardship, and it seems that the trend is continuing.
Tamara Nowakowsky Komuniecki, the owner of the beloved Jar Bar Refillery Kitsilano, is selling her store from the stress of trying to sustain her business amid various economic pressures and the aftermath of a former problematic lease.
“I’m just so underwater, I can’t even breathe,” she shared.
Nowakowsky set up her soap refillery store with the vision of providing a cheaper and more sustainable service to local communities. However, the growing global economic crisis meant that her inventory took a sharp hit as product costs increased and supplies dwindled in numbers.
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“When the global economic situation started to change, we were seeing shortages on some of the things that I was carrying,” she said. “We were seeing increased transportation and shipping costs. Prices started to go up on raw ingredients of the things that I made.”
“I’ve been in business since 2010 and a brick-and-mortar since 2014. I had never seen anything like this.”
Paired with the revenue loss of approximately $30,000 from a previous lease where botched building plumbing caused her business lot’s ceiling to collapse, Nowakowsky had to admit to herself that her “health was starting to definitely suffer from being pulled in so many directions and being so stressed.”
Even with the support of the Kitsilano community, Nowakowsky decided that the economic stress was too much. She is a personal guarantor of the business and risks losing her house if it fails.
Nowakowsky had applied for government loans to help keep her refillery in Kitsilano afloat but shared that the eligibility criteria make it incredibly difficult for her and similar businesses to find the support they need.
“There are some loan programs, but you really have to scour and search, and it’s almost like a full-time job in itself to find them and to apply for them,” she said. “It’s difficult to qualify.”
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The situation that Jar Bar Kits is facing points to a bigger issue that small businesses are dealing with, according to Nowakowsky.
Her North Shore store is located next to a larger commercial grocery store, and she “had to sign this lease that said that [she] wouldn’t carry the products that they’re carrying.” However, the same restrictive covenant lease was not reciprocated for her business, and she shared how she has seen over 10 of her products being sold in the neighbouring store.
“Where’s the lifeline that’s thrown to us for the small businesses that are like the small economic engine humming along in these little communities?” she said.
“Local businesses are making the tough decision to shut down because they can’t afford to run anymore.”
The future of Jar Bar Refillery is not completely over. Nowakowsky hopes that her decision to sell the Kitsilano store will direct inventory and revenue to the refillery’s other location in the North Shore.
However, the dream scenario for Nowakowsky is to sell her business to “an owner who sees the vision, understands this market of refill, and knows that they’re buying into a potential franchise.”
“I do not have the fire in my belly anymore for it,” she shared.
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