East 1st partially reopens, but damage already done for local bakery
Posted August 26, 2018 6:53 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Things are slowly getting back to normal along East 1st Avenue if you drive that route in Vancouver.
It’s been partially re-opened between Rupert and Nanaimo, and is expected to fully re-open on Friday now that that phase of gas line work is complete.
While it’s welcome relief for commuters, a local bake shop is still trying to recover from impacts the closure has had on the business.
Cassia Bake Shop was forced to close down temporarily because of the construction, and it turns out bouncing back is no easy task.
“We have to reorganize again, right?” General Manager Marcela Nielson says. “We lost staff so we need to rehire and it’s been a challenge. We hope we can get back to normal once we open, but we are not sure what’s going to happen as we’ve been closed for so long.”
The shop closed its doors in late July after Nielson says the business was severly impacted, with just an average of six customers coming in daily. There’s no word yet on when it might open its doors.
“We will run into a challenge to get some employees, so I don’t have an exact date yet.”
She believes Fortis B.C. needs to do more to prevent this kind of thing from happening in the future.
“Work has to be done, and we understand that,” she tells NEWS 1130. “But you cannot do it making other people struggle or people losing their jobs, or businesses having to close. They have to try to think about it better.”
