Retail Therapy

Jeff Green | Apr 17, 2013

As those who live in communities that have lost their store know only too well, it is very difficult to keep a community together once it has lost its basic retail infrastructure – its grocery store, gas stations, restaurants and the like. It's not impossible, but it is very difficult.

That is why there has been a sense of foreboding in the northern parts of Frontenac County over the last few years as the survival of some of the key retail businesses has been in doubt.

The circumstances are always different, but the decline of small retailers throughout North America in favour of box stores and large chains is certainly a major factor, as is the drop in rural population, and the willingness of those who are left to drive a long way to work.

Retailers in Kingston, Napanee, and Ottawa are struggling in the face of price-based competition, so it is no surprise that it is difficult for retailers in Verona, Sharbot Lake, and Plevna as well.

Another factor that is crucial to all of this is business continuity. Small businesses thrive on the energy that the owner and a small number of employees put into them. When that wanes, either due to frustration or lack of success or the passage of time, the business can easily start to slip away.

In various ways, these factors have weighed on a number of businesses in Frontenac County.

There has been a feeling of doom and gloom descending this winter as both the Plevna and Sharbot Lake Freshmart stores were teetering on the brink. In Plevna the store was actually scheduled to close down in April and in Sharbot Lake the shelves had been getting emptier and emptier as the winter wore on. Although it was widely known that a sale was supposed to be pending for the Sharbot Lake store, nothing was confirmed and time kept passing.

Meanwhile to the south in Harrowsmith, a food business, Something Cool, did close at the end of January,

Suddenly, it seems, early this spring, something changed for the better. It started with the announcement that the Plevna store/restaurant/gas bar was being taken over by Stephen Cox, and the store and restaurant are not only going to survive, but are being revamped and improved. A new butcher shop and deli, Gilmour’s Meats, opened in Harrowsmith at a newly built mini-strip mall, and the deal did finally close for the Sharbot Lake Freshmart.

Although the Sharbot Lake store is closed right now, there is no shortage of activity at the site, Drywall was being delivered on Monday, and crews have been working day and night to get the store up and open again, under the Mike Dean Superstore banner.

Three new food businesses, three new entrepreneurs investing time and money in Frontenac County at one time - that certainly is a change for the better. It also represents a trend that goes back further. The Verona Foodland was upgraded a few years back, and Local Family Farms set up shop about six years ago. Last year Seed to Sausage had the grand opening of their successful retail store on Road 38, which draws traffic from great distances, as does the Limestone Dairy on Rutledge Road.

Larger centres see this kind of thing all the time, but for communities that have only seen decline for a number of years, for communities at risk, these investments represent a huge shift in consciousness.

These new businesses will not be asking people to patronise them simply out of some obligation to buy local. They know that people will only buy their products if they can deliver good prices, or better service, or better quality (preferably all three) They know they are competing with the Wal-Mart and No Frills stores of the world. And they are still willing to give it a go.

We look forward to giving them a chance, a proper chance, to get our business.