Economy forces business to close

Owner looks to future as Kensington shop prepares to close due to rising challenges

“I guess when the debt far outweighs the joy, it is time to close your doors.”

Sharon MacIntyre

KENSINGTON, P.E.I. – Sharon McIntyre opens the door of her shop, Bloom House Plants and Pretty Things, in Kensington. Her two golden retrievers, four-year-old John Denver and one-and-a-halfyear-old Norma Jean, eagerly wait by the entrance to greet guests.

Lush green plants are hung everywhere around the little shop. Flower bouquets, pottery, candles and many other home decor items line the room.

"It's a feeling of peace and calm, and that's what everybody said when they walked in here," she said.

McIntyre, who has been in the floral industry for more than three decades, opened the store in November 2019. Back then, she lived in a camper for about six months to save money. She then sold the vehicle and used her saving to set up the business that she had dreamed of for a long time.

The shop made it through the pandemic. During that time, McIntyre said she received a lot of orders and made a lot of the deliveries across P.E.I. herself.

She recently announced on Facebook the store will be closed for good by the end of June.

"The economy right now is really tough for a small business, and I'm a one-girl show here,” she said. “So, it's really frustrating trying to find the appropriate staff, and there seems to be shortages of that."

CHALLENGES

McIntyre is not the only business owner facing challenges.

Frédéric Gionet, a senior policy analyst for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) in Atlantic Canada, said small businesses in Atlantic Canada and across the country are facing obstacles and struggling to remain in operation.

The CFIB represents small and medium businesses and has nearly 100,000 members in Canada, including about 900 in P.E.I. Gionet said they have been hearing from many of their members about problems such as labour shortages and rising operational costs.

"They haven't been growing, they have been surviving. And some of them have not made it. Some of them are holding on and have done everything to keep the doors open. And they're exhausted," said Gionet.

McIntyre said she can relate, as she did a lot of work by herself, from running the shop and making deliveries to regularly checking messages from customers on social media, even after hours. She also needed to frequently come up with new ideas to attract customers.

"It was always about work. It was always in my head or on my phone, and that's basically what I did for the first three and a half years," she said.

SERVING LOCAL COMMUNITY

Amanda Hirst, who used to work in Kensington and would visit McIntyre's shop regularly, now works in Summerside but still tries to visit as often as she can, especially after learning the store is closing.

"I'm saddened by that. But Sharon's going to have to move on. Like she said, she's done her time," Hirst said. "It's such a sweet little shop. And it's a shame, but it's time for change."

McIntyre said it is the customers like Hirst she will miss the most because her business is all about serving and supporting the local community. A lot of products sold in her store are from Island vendors.

"It's local supporting local to lift each other up, and that's what I tried to do," she said. "I guess when the debt far outweighs the joy, it is time to close your doors."

Rising prices also went into that decision.

McIntyre has been dealing with increased costs for the things she needs to run her business. She said she can't get prices from suppliers that are as good as what big chain stores get, and she's encountering higher delivery costs. She said she mostly buys her plants from suppliers in Ontario and Nova Scotia.

"It's really hard to put all of that cost into your product because people could go to a bigger supply store, the bigbox stores to buy it for a lot less than what they could get here, not realizing the cost that I have to pay because I don't get it for the same pricing that the big box stores do," she said.

A NEW CHAPTER

These days, McIntyre has stopped ordering new items and said the store looks a lot emptier than it usually does.

Once the shop is closed, she plans to take July off. She said she has been so busy with the store that she hasn’t had a vacation in a long time. After that, she intends to get a job.

Customers who love her two golden retrievers can still follow their journey with her on the store's Facebook page.

She has also placed an order for about 100 candles of her own brand called Back Home Again, Prince Edward Island Candle because there has been an increased demand for them since people learned the store is closing. The candles will be available this summer in a chocolatier in Stanley Bridge.

"I fulfilled my dream, and it's time to move on to new possibilities,” said McIntire. “So, it's not a sad thing. It's actually going to be really uplifting."