Kimberly Harvey opened her new handmade jewelry store, My Lil Gem, inside Newmarket's Upper Canada Mall on Oct. 1.
The Bradford woman knew it was risky to open a retail store during a pandemic, but she had no other choice. All her festivals and craft fairs that she normally sells at throughout the year were kiboshed due to COVID, and this was her last chance at making any money.
Harvey said when COVID hit, her website sales dropped as many turned to Amazon for their shopping needs.
In the summer, she had applied for a $40,000 loan from the government, but since she did not have the storefront at the time or a payroll, she was denied. So she invested her savings and had to borrow money from her parents come up with $35,000 to open her store in the lower level of the Newmarket mall.
During the first few months of business, she says she was doing OK with sales, hoping to have a successful holiday rush to keep afloat.
But then the lockdowns started again in late fall, with York Region entering the Grey-Zone just before Christmas, shuttering all shopping malls.
Harvey needed that last week of holiday sales, and selling from home wasn't going to cut it, so she contacted Georgian Mall to see if she could secure a spot to set up and sell her inventory.
"I called the Georgian Mall leasing manager right away and got their last spot," she explained. "I rented it from Dec. 15-31."
Her new spot in Barrie was not as large as the one in Newmarket, but it was a kiosk in the middle of the mall.
"We were just starting to make headway on all the money spent to get open when they closed York Region down and the hope was to at least make some of that lost income in Barrie, but it was only half the inventory in a smaller space," she said.
Harvey even had another small space opened at the 400 Flea Market and hired help to get through the holidays.
"I was trying everything to stay afloat," she said.
Little did she know, just as she opened her new space, the government would announce the entire province would move to the Grey-Zone lockdown starting Dec. 26.
"We got open for a few days to only find out we had to shut down again," she said.
She was desperate to make as many sales as she could before having to close up shop after Christmas.
On Christmas Eve, she spent the night tearing down her kiosk in Barrie with her kids, and on Sunday, was back in her store at Upper Canada Mall, unpacking her stock and setting up for when she can reopen.
She is worried the lockdown in York Region will be longer than 28 days, and is looking at the possibility of securing a storefront at Georgian Mall.
Although Harvey's rent at the Upper Canada Mall is on pause until they are able to reopen, she is worried about her income.
Harvey has an online store, but says it isn't nearly enough to cover the bills. She is receiving help from the Canada Emergency Relief Benefit (CERB), but that only covers one-third of her expenses.
"My rent and utilities are over $2,500 a month; it's not even remotely enough," she said.
She is looking into applying for a loan through the Nottawasaga Futures program in Simcoe County, but says she has been distracted with moving her store that she hasn't had time to go over the application form completely.
"All this lockdown stuff took up all my time, so I didn't get the application finished," she said.
Harvey, who is tired of competing with Amazon, hopes more people will think about shopping locally during the lockdown.
"People are not practising what they preach," she said of the 'shop local' movement. "They like to say these amazing catchphrases, but they don't actually follow through. They spend a ton of money on Amazon and are proud of their Amazon hauls.
"It's sad," Harvey added.
To shop My Lil Gem's online store, visit here.
