Another London, Ont., business is closing its doors, citing ongoing challenges related to the state of the downtown core.
Frankly Scarlett, a women’s boutique with locations in London as well as Port Stanley, announced earlier this week that come Dec. 23, its Richmond Row location will be shutting down after six years.
In a post to Facebook, the boutique wrote that “the daily challenges of homelessness, vandalism and drug addiction plaguing our downtown has made it impossible to provide a safe environment for our staff and customers and the necessity of locking the front door has diminished any chance of retail success.”
Speaking with Global News, owner Susan Elgie says it was a very difficult decision, “one that took a considerable amount of time.”
“It didn’t happen overnight,” she said. “It was one of those situations where you’re really enjoying the location with lots of wonderful merchants and restaurant tours and service providers. But the unfortunate part of it is with all of the issues, it has become a very difficult area to do business in.”
Elgie added that the decision took about a year to make.
“I took that time to really assess the situation and look around, see what’s happening, do we have improvements or not. And in fact, the chaos and destruction actually seem to worsen within that year,” she said.
The boutique’s Richmond Row location is one of many downtown establishments to close within 2023, including Budapest restaurant at 338 Dundas St., which closed at the beginning of August after almost 70 years in the core.
The landmark restaurant highlighted similar changes in the downtown following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason for its closure, referencing an increase in homelessness, insufficient parking and declining safety downtown.
Elgie told Global News she also heard many safety concerns from customers about walking through the core to enter the boutique.
“Many customers were afraid to even frequent or walk the streets, primarily in the evening, but at almost any time of the day, unless they were accompanied by someone,” she said. “Some were asking, ‘Can we shop online because we really don’t want to come downtown?’ or my staff would say, ‘We had another confrontation in store, it got a little bit rough,’ and that they did not feel safe either.
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“When those are repetitive comments, you really have to take them into account and say there’s a big problem here and what is the best resolution to this,” Elgie added. “Ultimately, for me, it was the closure.”
While their Port Stanley location will remain open, she said the response from London customers has been nothing but “grateful.”
“Lots of wonderful people live, work and play in that area, and they have really supported us and expressed sadness, or comments like, ‘We’ll come visit you in Port Stanley,’ so it’s been really wonderful in that way,” she said.
With regard to another soon-to-be closure of a downtown business, Barbara Maly, executive director of the Downtown London Business Association, said they are “very sad and disappointed.”
“They are certainly a beloved spot and a unique, one-of-a-kind boutique,” she said. “We recognize that many medium- and large-sized cities are currently facing the same homelessness, mental health, drug addiction challenges that play out on our streets, and so London is not alone.
“Downtown London certainly has been very active at the health and homeless and community table as we try and find those solutions to some very complex and systemic challenges.”
The announcement of the closure comes prior to city council finalizing the first three locations and operators for the city’s homeless hubs plan following a special meeting on Thursday.
Locations for the first set of hubs are set to be spread across the city, including in the downtown core.
Maly said Downtown London is pleased with the proposed locations and “this is a step forward.”
“We also recognize there needs to be more communication towards our businesses, to neighbourhoods around about how these hubs will be different from what we’ve ever done before,” she said. “We’re building the bridge as we go…. So I can also understand the anxiety of some of those folks who don’t have those answers yet. But we want to be a part of the solution and not sitting on the sidelines.
“It’s also important to note that we’re also making sure there very much is a business voice at these tables when it comes to those in the downtown core.
“We’re going to need some really strong support at city hall to make sure that those negative impacts are addressed as it relates to our businesses, because our businesses need that support that has been missing for several years now.”
However, Maly also noted that within this year, around 45 new businesses have also opened or expanded in the downtown, including The Banquet at the former Lone Star Texas Grill at 600 Richmond St.
“We are not without challenges, but there certainly are a great number of things to be optimistic about both currently and on the horizon,” she said.
Elgie said that in terms of the city’s response to challenges such as homelessness, vandalism and increased assaults in the downtown core, a solution is going to come with “a lot of creativity, unique ideas and difficult decisions.”
“Whether these new hubs work or the safe injection sites that they’ve had in place, I don’t know if they work or they don’t work. All I know is that the problems still exist and are increasing dramatically daily,” she said.
Elgie added that at the end of the day, “support is needed.”
“Any support that anyone can provide to the London core, whether it’s a restaurant, a service, boutique, whatever, might not fully help maintain it but it will at least give it a breath of life,” she said. “(Especially) right now as a lot of merchants are hanging on by a thread.”
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