The business shuffle continues on Gottingen Street, this time with two shops making room for a new grocery store. The Community Carrot Co-op signed a lease for a space at the south end of Gottingen Street on March 1. The space used to be two separate commercial spaces rented by the Mbuji Mayi Market and Kevin Muise Interiors. In December, the two businesses found out their leases wouldn’t be renewed, and started looking for new commercial spaces nearby.
Patricia Kankonde, owner of the Mbuji Mayi Market, a store that sells African products, including groceries, declined to comment for this story. She moved out of her previous location after occupying the space for 10 years. Her new space is a bit larger and located at 2356 Gottingen, near Buddy Daye.
When he heard his lease was up after three years at the same location, Kevin Muise says he was desperate to find a new space. He moved his furniture store into the Vogue Tailors building on Gottingen because it was pretty much the only option to stay on the street. The businesses are now sharing the same street-level space. Since moving in Muise says he plans to stay long-term.
In Europe, where he travels each fall for trade shows, there are lots of stores that combine furniture, clothes and makeup in the same space, he says. Plan B on Gottingen Street and FRED at North and Agricola Streets also employ similar space-sharing business models.
Nick Dimitropoulos, owner of the Vogue building, says the new arrangement is “a happy marriage.” It was his wife’s idea. “I said, it’s a good idea—we can use half the store for Kevin and half for us. He will have one window and one for us. And it will be good for both of us—he brings fresh customers in, and my customers can buy his stuff.”
The Community Carrot Co-op bought 2063 Gottingen Street after an extensive search of the neighbourhood. The co-op applied for the Aviva Community Fund last year in an effort to bring affordable, healthy food to the Gottingen Street area. In January 2013, the co-op won $115,000 from the Aviva fund.
The co-op was looking for a sufficiently large space and most of the spaces on Gottingen Street are quite small, says David Fleming of the North End Business Association. Rental rates for commercial spaces are rising in the neighbourhood, Fleming says. For a long time rates were stable on Gottingen, but optimism about the business district and changes in public perception have shifted prices, he says. Now more businesses are interested in moving in.
“The other piece is that our property tax system is perpetuating the problem. Commercial owners in that area are getting somewhere in the neighbourhood of 100 to as high as 300 percent increases in one year on the assessments of their building.” Including utilities and electricity, landlords are having a hard time keeping the rent low.
The neighbourhood is in flux but the NEBA’s goal is to keep it affordable, Fleming says. A few solutions could be to ask HRM to “smooth out” assessments over a number of years to help stabilize rates, and request additional services from the city, including a second number 1 bus route and landscaping on the street.
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The Community Carrot has a home
This article appears in Mar 20-26, 2014.
Actually, there is no reason why HRM couldn’t simply put a % cap on increases in tax bills. Say 25% per year. Then PVSC can put whatever value they want on the property, but the landowner will only see costs go up a maximum of 25%
Glad to hear the Community Carrot has found a home. Good work to everyone involved in this project!