A family friendly, mom ‘n pop style eatery, off Commercial Drive is dealing with financial woes.
Little Nest is closing its doors.
The owner says the landlord has priced her out, with a lease offer that’s nearly double what she once paid when she started just a few years ago.
“Babies I served six years ago are now in school, and I’m watching them grow up, and there’s so many connections here that have been made,” said owner Mary Macintyre. “It’s very sad for everyone.”
Experts say it’s a problem that’s becoming more common due to landlords who want to cash in on a hot market.
In December, Macintyre started renegotiating a new lease for Little Nest, but it didn’t go well.
She was paying $2,900 a month when she opened.
With steady increases over the years, plus a 50 per cent hike in February, now she’s shelling out $6,500 a month for her storefront which is on a side street around the corner from Commercial Drive.
Plus there would be another jump next year and again the following year.
“I don’t want to project with that rate how I’ll do,” said Macintyre. “It looks not that wonderful.”
At $45 a square foot, the former pastry chef says it just doesn’t make financial sense to keep going.
She is still paying off the business loan from start-up costs.
According to the Commercial Drive Business Society, this isn’t the only retailer to fall victim to increasing rent.
“A lot of things are family-owned and family-run that way,” said Federico Fuoco of the Commercial Drive Business Society. “And also the character, just the character, to be able to come to Commercial Drive and shop with all these character places and we’re starting to lose these stores, and that’s the sad thing.”
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