The closure of Chemainus’ Riot Brewing Co. is sad in itself, but brings up some important factors about the state of affairs in this country.
First of all, there is far more money being pumped into, shall we say, lesser important things by the federal and provincial governments than providing assistance for small businesses.
Canada Emergency Business Account loans have essentially been a big farce. There hasn’t been nearly enough time for most businesses to recover after being hammered by COVID to pay back those loans, yet we are with those that took the $60,000 needing to pay back the required $40,000 portion this week.
Businesses thus received a forgivable $20,000 loan but that’s small potatoes compared to the losses that have been incurred the last few years. More businesses are facing the same dilemma as Riot about how to pay back that portion of the loan and still make ends meet.
At the same time, costs of just about all supplies have risen substantially. The only way to recover any of those costs is to pass them on to the already overwhelmed consumer. That’s just not feasible for most people who are getting extremely cash-strapped.
And taxes aren’t going down anytime soon, adding to an already very taxing situation for a small business.
Rents are another story. Rents are out of control in this economy and something more assertive should have been done by governments long ago.
The craft brewing industry has also faced a sudden market saturation. There’s just too much competition with consumers seemingly cutting back on overall alcohol consumption.
The Riot story is sure to be repeated many times across the country throughout the year as the drawbacks to operating continue to mount and lead to more closures.
It’s a huge void for Chemainus, with a substantial part of the Chemainus Village Square complex now empty. What the landlord does with the assets remains to be seen. The building could be dismantled piece by piece or sit empty with the hope someone else might take it over, but that’s unlikely.
Chemainus doesn’t have big box stores and this is devastating for a town base that relies on small business.