Last month the owners of Base Camp Coffee made an announcement on social media: “It is with great sadness that we are deciding to close our locations in two weeks.”
The message indicated that the Base Camp location on Marine Avenue and the establishment located inside the Townsite Public Market would be closing October 7.
“I encourage folks to support small businesses as much as they can; they are all struggling,” ended the message on social media by one of the owners, Steve Brooks.
“Costs have gone up so much these last two years, and it's hard to compete with the big corporate chains,” said Brooks in a message to the Peak. “I've been involved with the business for about three years, when I stepped in to try and help my dear friend Colin Macrae, who started Base Camp and is 50 per cent owner.”
Brooks also owns Townsite Public Market and is partial owner of Townsite Brewing. Although the market, brewery and Base Camp locations have all become synonymous with the qathet region, Brooks said it's tough being a small business owner right now.
“Small businesses are struggling and have taken on debt through the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Brooks. "We made a small loss this summer and have no buffer to go into the much slower fall and winter season, where gross revenue barely covers payroll, let alone food, packaging and fixed costs.”
Brooks had gone back to contracting full time to keep the business afloat but decided to close the locations over the fall and winter to look at options instead of continuing to lose money.
“I had to make the tough call to close instead of subsidize it through the much slower fall and winter to try and save to pay back our Canada Emergency Business Account [CEBA] loan,” said Brooks.
Many small businesses in BC and across Canada are under pressure to pay back loans offered to businesses by the Canadian government during the pandemic. Some CEBA loans have had their repayment deadlines extended until January 2024.
The closure of Base Camp not only impacts community members’ ability to grab a coffee, even on a Sunday, when most other businesses on Marine Avenue are closed; it also impacts local artists and entrepreneurs. Internationally renowned artist Meghan Hildebrand’s work is seen regularly on the walls of Base Camp, as well as artist Theo Angell’s 3D sculptures.
Cycling tourists, kayakers and campers visiting the region, regularly stop at Base Camp en route to their destinations, or on their way back. Townsite itself does not have another coffee shop.
“I'm hopeful that this is not the end of Base Camp,” said Brooks. “I need to financially pause and look at options. Us closing through the winter will hopefully help some of the other small coffee shop businesses make it through the next six months.”
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