Business

Tears galore as popular Kitsilano diner serves up its final meals, Nelly's forced to close due to rent increase – Vancouver Sun

Published

8 months ago

July 24, 2022

Megan Johnson

“Things happen beyond our control and people bigger than us can crush dreams. Come say goodbye and we will try not to cry.” — Nelson Ma

Publishing date:

Jul 24, 2022 • 19 hours ago • 3 minute read • 9 Comments

Nelly’s Grill will close at the end of July after 30 years in business in Kitsilano. Photo: Joyce Yee. Photo by Joyce Yee /jpg

The owner of a diner that’s been serving breakfast to Kitsilano with a smile for 30 years says a sudden increase in rent is now forcing him to close.

Business representatives for the community say they are witnessing a similar trend happening along the West 4th Avenue strip. Other mom-and-pop shops are folding under the growing weight of commercial market costs.

“Things happen beyond our control and people bigger than us can crush dreams,” Nelson Ma, 68, said to his customers in a Facebook post, announcing his plans to close the diner at the end of July.

“Come say goodbye and we will try not to cry.”

Located east of Arbutus Street, Nelly’s Grill is a popular spot among locals, known for combining two brunch favourites in a fried chicken eggs Benedict.

After its building was bought last September, restaurant manager Joyce Yee, said the new landlord — Novena Land Property — told them their plans to increase the rent once Ma’s lease ended in 18 months.

“He’s been paying close to $9,000 a month in rent and property taxes but to renew he’d have to pay more than double that,” said Yee, who has worked at the diner for 17 years.

“All of us employees have been grieving. We’ve watched customers’ families grow up and get bigger throughout the years,” Yee said.

Nelson Ma, 68, is the owner of Nelly’s Grill, which is being forced to close at the end of July after 30 years in Kitsilano. Photo: Joyce Yee jpg

Though Ma has tried finding other leasing options, inflated rent costs across the city are keeping him from being able to relocate the diner, Yee said. Trying to sell the business also proved tricky.

“The new owner said ‘no’ to the one offer we got. He has the final say and has even started renovations upstairs during food service. We feel we have no choice but to leave.”

Lauren Angelucci, a Kitsilano resident of 20 years, said she’s saddened to hear news of the restaurant’s closing.

“I’m so sad to see the place go. Our baby’s first meal was there when he was just a week old.”

The restaurant wasn’t the first along the strip to feel pushed out by rising rent costs proposed after a change in ownership. In December, a realtor who came into Bishop’s restaurant told the owner the building had been sold and a rent hike was coming.

“The realtor told us that rent alone would be costing $100 per square foot,” said John Bishop, who opened the fine-dining establishment in 1986 when the cost of rent and property taxes were around $2,000 per month.

By the start of 2022, costs had risen to 10 times that much.

“We simply couldn’t afford to stay open,” Bishop said. “After 37 years in business, paying rent and taxes, I thought being a good tenant may have mattered but we weren’t offered any chance of negotiating rent.”

A business that used to operate two doors down from Nelly’s, Peak Golf, told Postmedia it made the move to a less-costly West 4th storefront once new landlords took over in September.

When contacted by phone, Novena Land’s managing director told Postmedia he did not wish to comment on Nelly’s Grill decision to shutter.

Jane McFadden, executive director of the Kitsilano Business Association, said she’s seen various shops and eateries along the thoroughfare go out of business because they are priced out of the commercial market.

“It’s unfortunate to see long-standing businesses like Nelly’s, ones that contain a lot of memories, go out of business. However, these new landlords are often just rising rental prices, many that have stayed the same for years under the old landlord, up to current market value.”

McFadden said the West 4th business district continues to thrive.

“In the past six months, 11 new small businesses have opened up brick-and-mortar business locations along the strip.”

While commercial rents dropped in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Statistics Canada’s commercial rent prices index, they began to climb back up and by early 2022, had rebounded to pre-pandemic levels even though sales had not bounced back to the same degree.

In Vancouver, the average asking net commercial rent was up 27 per cent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2022, according to Canadian real estate giant Colliers.

sgrochowski@postmedia.com

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Nordstrom Canada: Liquidation sales to start today – CTV News

Published

2 hours ago

March 21, 2023

Megan Johnson

TORONTO –

Nordstrom is expected to begin liquidating its stores across Canada today.

The start of the department store chain’s closing sale comes a day after the U.S. retailer’s Canadian branch got permission from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to start selling off merchandise.

Nordstrom’s liquidation efforts are being led by Hilco Merchant Retail Solutions ULC and Gordon Brothers Canada and are expected to be complete by late June.

Furniture, fixtures and equipment will be liquidated alongside most of Nordstrom’s merchandise, but goods from third parties aren’t part of the sale because they were removed from stores over the weekend.

Nordstrom required court approval to liquidate because it is winding down its Canadian operations under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, which helps insolvent businesses restructure or end operations in an orderly fashion.

As part of the wind down, Nordstrom will close its six Canadian department store locations and seven Nordstrom Rack shops, which sell designer goods at discount prices.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2023.

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5 things to know before the stock market opens Tuesday – CNBC

Published

3 hours ago

March 21, 2023

Megan Johnson

In this article

AMZN
FRC

Here are the most important news items that investors need to start their trading day:

1. Relief rally

UBS’ “shotgun wedding” with Credit Suisse might have done the trick, at least for now, as U.S. equities markets rallied Monday following the latest moves to shore up the global banking system. Now, Wall Street’s focus is almost entirely on what’ll come of the Federal Reserve’s policy-setting meeting, which kicks off Tuesday and concludes Wednesday. The money is still on a quarter-point rate hike, even though many are arguing for a pause on increases, given the recent banking sector tumult. At this point, though, markets are more likely to react to what the Fed and its chairman, Jerome Powell, say about what’s next in the central bank’s battle with inflation. Follow live markets updates.

2. First Republic’s last resort?

Yes, but what about First Republic? The regional bank – which, like Silicon Valley Bank, caters to clients with big, uninsured deposits – is teetering. Shares of First Republic are down about 90% this month after another brutal session Monday, even after 11 banks announced last week they were depositing a total of $30 billion with the bank. Now, JPMorgan Chase, which led that effort, is advising First Republic on strategic alternatives, including a capital raise, which would dilute shareholders, or even a sale, according to CNBC’s David Faber.

3. Pressure on Jassy

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy

F. Carter Smith | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Amazon will lay off another 9,000 employees over the coming weeks, the company said. These cuts come on top of the 18,000 layoffs the e-commerce and cloud computing giant executed between November and January, and some market observers think there could be more to come. The decision is the latest difficult moment for CEO Andy Jassy, who took over from founder Jeff Bezos nearly two years ago. Over that time, Amazon’s shares have fallen 44%, as the company’s big gains during the lockdown era of the pandemic were wiped away while life started to return to normal. So while he’s now slashing costs, Jassy will face intense pressure to reignite growth, writes CNBC’s Annie Palmer.

4. Virgin Orbit’s existential crisis

The company’s modified 747 jet “Cosmic Girl” in Mojave, California.

Virgin Orbit

Virgin Orbit seemed to have everything going for it. Name recognition. Wealthy backers. The excitement over a new space race fueled by private investment. Now it’s on the verge of bankruptcy. A filing could come as soon as this week as the company struggles to find a buyer, according to CNBC space reporter Michael Sheetz. And many of the company’s employees, from executives to engineers, are actively looking for new jobs. Virgin Orbit, which was spun out of Virgin Galactic, counts charismatic billionaire Richard Branson as its largest shareholder. After going public in December 2021 during the final stretch of the SPAC wave, its shares are now trading at around 50 cents a pop.

5. Xi and Putin strengthen their bond

In this grab taken from video, China’s President Xi Jinping, left, speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their meeting in Moscow, Russia, Monday, March 20, 2023.

Russian Presidential Press Office | AP

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a second day of meetings Tuesday in Moscow. The two leaders are working to increase ties between their two countries in the face of economic, diplomatic and military opposition from the west, led by the United States. Xi invited Putin to visit China some time this year, while the two are expected to sign a series of pacts and discuss cooperation over Russia’s war in Ukraine. Follow live war updates.

– CNBC’s Yun Li, Jesse Pound, David Faber, Annie Palmer, Michael Sheetz and Holly Ellyatt contributed to this report.

— Follow broader market action like a pro on CNBC Pro.

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Liquidation sales at Nordstrom stores set to start Tuesday – Ottawa Citizen

Published

13 hours ago

March 20, 2023

Megan Johnson

The upscale department store chain has a store at the Rideau Centre mall as well as a Nordstrom Rack location at the Ottawa Train Yards shopping centre

The Canadian Press

Tara Deschamps

Published Mar 20, 2023 • 3 minute read

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Seattle-based luxury retailer Nordstrom, which entered Canada in 2014, has announced that its Canadian stores will close by the end of June, including the one at the Rideau Centre in Ottawa. Photo by Tony Caldwell /Postmedia

The liquidation sales at Nordstrom stores across Canada will begin Tuesday.

A spokesperson for Nordstrom confirmed the impending sales period Monday in an email to The Canadian Press, just after the Ontario Superior Court of Justice gave the U.S. retailer’s Canadian branch permission to start selling off its merchandise.

The upscale department store chain that primarily sells designer apparel, shoes and accessories has six Canadian stores and seven discount Nordstrom Rack locations, including its Rideau Centre location and a Nordstrom Rack at the Ottawa Train Yards shopping centre, which sells merchandise at discounted prices.

When Nordstrom announced the move in early March, it said it expected the Canadian stores to close by late June and 2,500 workers to lose their jobs.

The company initiated the exit from the market because chief executive Erik Nordstrom said, “despite our best efforts, we do not see a realistic path to profitability for the Canadian business.”

Nordstrom opened its first Canadian store in Calgary in 2014, followed by the Ottawa store at the Rideau Centre, which occupied the second and third levels of a former Sears location.

The Rideau Centre store has an alterations and tailoring shop and an energy drinks bar. Merchandise ranges from brand name to designer apparel, housewares, furnishings and beauty products, including brands such as Geox shoes, Gucci, Adidas and Adidas by Stella McCartney.

Later on came Nordstrom Rack, which made its Canadian debut in 2018 at Vaughan Mills, a mall north of Toronto. At the time, Nordstrom said as many as 15 more Rack locations could follow.

Nordstrom promised each Rack store would deliver savings of up to 70 per cent on apparel, accessories, home, beauty and travel items from 38 of the top 50 brands sold in its Canadian department stores.

Nordstrom had trouble with profitability because of its selection of products and the COVID-19 pandemic, said Tamara Szames, executive director and industry adviser of Canadian retail at the NPD Group research firm, a day after Nordstrom announced its exit.

“You would hear a lot of Canadian saying that the assortment wasn’t the same in Canada that it was in the U.S.,” she said.

She noticed Nordstrom started to shift its product mix away from some luxury brands around 2018 and saw it as a sign that the retailer was struggling to maintain its original vision and integrity.

The pandemic made matters worse because many stores were forced to temporarily close their doors to quell the virus and shoppers were less likely to need some of the items Nordstrom sells like dressy apparel because events had been cancelled.

Despite stores reopening and many sectors rebounding, Szames said the apparel business is the only industry NPD Group tracks that has yet to recover from the health crisis.

“The consumer has really been holding back in terms of spendâ¦within that industry.”

At a hearing at Osgoode Hall in Toronto, lawyer Jeremy Dacks, who represented Nordstrom, said the company has “worked hard to achieve a consensual path forward” with landlords, suppliers and a court-appointed monitor to find an orderly way to wind down the business.

The monitor, Alvarez & Marsal Canada, suggested five potential third-party liquidators and Nordstrom was approached by another five. The company decided to go with a joint venture comprised of Hilco Merchant Retail Solutions ULC and Gordon Brothers Canada, which were involved in the liquidation of Target, Sears and Forever 21 in Canada, Dacks said.

They will oversee the sale of merchandise, furniture, fixtures and equipment, but not goods from third parties, which removed products this past weekend, Dacks said. He added that all sales will be final and no returns will be allowed.

Lawyers for Nordstrom landlords Cadillac Fairview, Ivanhoe Cambridge, Oxford Properties Ltd. and First Capital Realty testified Monday that they were pleased with how “smoothly” and “organized” the process has gone so far.

In approving Dacks’ liquidation request, Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz agreed, saying Nordstrom is facing a “difficult time, but this process is unfolding in a very cooperative manner.”

Nordstrom required court approval to begin the liquidation because it is winding down its Canadian operations under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, which helps insolvent businesses restructure or end operations in an orderly fashion.

With files from Joanne Laucius

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