‘Collateral damage’: Vancouver bakery shuts down due to E. 1st Ave closure, wants compensation

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A bakery we told you about earlier this month that was struggling for business due to the closure of E. 1st Ave. in Vancouver has been forced to shut its doors.

Cassia Bake Shop is now looking for compensation.

“We had no other choice but to close — at least for the construction time,” says Marcela Nielsen, general manager of Cassia Bake Shop, located at Commercial Drive and E. 1st Ave.

FortisBC says the full closure of East 1st Ave between Nanaimo Street and Clark Drive is expected to remain in place until the end of August.

Nielsen can’t say for certain if the business will survive being closed for weeks.

“We are hoping to re-open once the construction is done. We are hoping having to close [for these weeks] isn’t going to kill our business. We’re hoping for the best, but we don’t know what’s going to happen.”

She tells us they used to see 60 customers every day. “Once construction started, we had like, five customers a day. It really went drastically down.”

The small bakery employs five people, and Nielsen says simple math shows five customers per day didn’t bring in enough revenue to stay open. “We cannot stay open like that.”


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She says it was a difficult decision to close the bakery’s doors. “You work so hard for something, and then it comes down so fast — out of your control.”

“If it’s something you’re doing wrong, you do your best to improve. You can fix it. But this is out of our control. It’s been very hard and very disappointing for us,” she adds.

She tells us they are hoping for compensation from FortisBC. “We feel like collateral damage.”

“It’s a livelihood for a lot of people… You let go people and then after, what’s going to happen? Maybe they find jobs, maybe they don’t. Maybe they can’t come back. It’s a complicated situation.”

FortisBC wouldn’t say whether the bakery will receive any compensation.

“We recognize that every business has its own individual needs. We’re going to work with these businesses on a case-by-case basis to address those,” says Trevor Wales with the company.

“We understand the various challenges that both businesses and residents are experiencing. We appreciate their patience,” he adds.

Wales notes businesses along Commercial Drive remain open throughout construction and they are encouraging people to continue to shop there.

“Our goal is to complete the project as quickly and safely as possible. We’ll have our crews continuing to move ahead and target that end date of Aug. 31.”

 – With files from Alison Bailey

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