Retail in a war zone?
Guest: Caren McSherry, Gourmet Warehouse
In this edition of Journal, we take a look at a real life story behind the cold data on retail crime in British Columbia – and the statistics are grim.
A report released recently by the Canadian Federation of Small Business states that BC small businesses experienced a 27% increase in crime in just over the past year – and that is above the national average.
8 in 10 small business owners fear for their own safety and that of their staff and customers. 52% of businesses surveyed by the Save Our Streets Coalition believe that these retail crimes such as petty theft and shoplifting increase the costs to consumers: that’s all of us.
So those are some of the numbers. But what is it like day to day, being a small business owner in such a climate? Heaven knows that small businesses have a hard enough time making ends
meet in the best of times, but what is it like today when you may come in to work in the morning to find broken windows, again, or another smash-and-grab robbery?
Caren McSherry is the inspiration and founder of the Gourmet Warehouse located in East Vancouver. A chef herself, she felt that there was a need for a unique specialty food and housewares emporium.
And so, in 1998, Caren built it. And boy, did the foodies of the world flock to her shop!
But things have changed dramatically in the last few years, to the extent that she has started to muse aloud about how long she can keep going – too much theft, too much damage, too many threats.
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