Earth’s General Store has been in business on Whyte Avenue since the early 1990s, and expanded to a downtown location in 2014 – but now, the owner says that second location is in danger of closing and needs more business.
“I can’t afford to lose any more money at this location,” owner Michael Kalmanovitch told CTV News.
Kalmanovitch spoke to CTV News a day after posting a public plea online, urging customers to ‘use us or lose us’, and asking customers: “do you want us in your community?” as the Earth’s General Store on 104 Street faces possible closure.
The blog post states the downtown location has been “kept alive” due to the success of the Whyte Avenue store.
“People trust us, they trust our name,” Kalmanovitch said. “But we didn’t realize that it was going to be so hard here.”
Jennie Dailey-O’Cain lives near the downtown store, and often shops there – making smaller and more frequent trips.
“The first reason was convenience,” Dailey-O’Cain said.
She said she supports Kalmanovitch’s campaign.
“It’ll change my life, my entire lifestyle if I can’t have a grocery store on my block,” Dailey-O’Cain said.
Kalmanovitch said he hopes going to the public, and not closing by surprise, will help save the business.
“I’m okay with not succeeding, but I want to give everybody a chance to make it a success, and if they choose not to, I’m okay with that,” Kalmanovitch said.
As Kalmanovitch said in his blog post, if sales don’t increase by the end of January, the downtown store will be closed in the summer.
With files from Susan Amerongen
