Newly reopened, Yellowknife businesses say they need more gov't support

The evacuation of Yellowknife ended more than a week ago, but some business owners in town say it still might put them out of business.

Judy McNicol, the owner of Iceblink clothing boutique in downtown Yellowknife, said the three-week evacuation order is the worst disruption her business has suffered in the 10 years she's been open.

"I'm trying to look at every angle, I'm trying to remain positive about how we can remain financially viable, [but] it doesn't seem possible," she said.

She estimates that she lost about $40,000 in revenue during the evacuation. Now, she has thousands of dollars of bills due and no money to pay them. She has business insurance, but is hoping not to use it because of how it might affect her premiums in the future, and because of how long the process is likely to take.

A few weeks ago, the territorial government announced that businesses would be eligible for up to $5,000 in operational support to pay expenses while they were out of town. The money can be used to pay rent and utilities, but not employee salaries. 

Lost revenue, the biggest cost for many businesses CBC spoke to, is also not an eligible expense for the funding. 

McNicol says that for her, that sum barely covers one month of rent, calling it "a joke and an insult." 

McNicol isn't the only Yellowknife business owner who says they might not be able to keep their business going.

Dinku Tadesse owns the Zehabesha Ethiopian restaurant. 

He says that since the COVID-19 pandemic, business has been slower than it used to be, and food costs have been higher. When the wildfire forced Yellowknifers to leave the city, he was still working to recover from those losses.

And when the evacuation order was issued on Aug. 16, he had just bought a large grocery order. More than $2,500 worth of food has since gone bad.

There's also rent, employee salaries and utilities to pay.

Right now, Tadesse said he's preparing to go to Ethiopia to try and help some relatives who are caught in the middle of a conflict there.

When he returns, he's not sure yet if he will be able to reopen his restaurant. 

"How much help are we going to get? We don't have an answer to this kind of question. Winter is coming, [are] the tourists going to come? We have no clue about that," he explained. 

"If I get the support, I'm going to continue." 

Tadesse said he plans to apply for the operational support that's offered, but that $5000 would cover less than one month of rent for him.

Uncertainty in South Slave

In the South Slave, where wildfire evacuations began even earlier and have yet to conclude, business owners are still trying to figure out what impact the disruption will have.  

Craig Kovatch is the manager, and part owner, of Superior Audio Video Unlimited in Hay River. He says he has no idea what kind of sales to expect when residents get back, but he's expecting business to be slow. 

When Hay River was evacuated for 10 days back in May, he said that sales were down for a few weeks. This time, he guesses that sales might be low into 2024. 

"People are going to come back to town, and there are a lot of people who are going to be broke and financially strapped. And I don't know how long it takes people to recover from something like that. It might be six months, it might be a year," he said. 

"So a lot of businesses in town, I think, are going to feel that crunch."

Kovatch also said that most residents probably did at least some shopping in the South while they were evacuated, potentially eating into sales for local N.W.T. businesses. 

Ultimately, he says that Superior Audio Video is in a good position compared to many other businesses. He said the $5,000 should cover his rent for the month he was away, and his other costs are low. The store only has one employee, other than him, and he's expecting low bills for the month. 

That leaves him worried, but not worried about going out of business entirely. 

For McNicol though, the situation is dire. 

'Even even if people start shopping as normal and even if they haven't shopped down South, I don't see how that's going to make up for these closures," she said. 

"I need a big influx of cash. I need a significant influx of money. And I need my expenses to be covered."