Don’t make assumptions about others
As a local, First Nations business owner, I recently came to work an hour before opening in order to unload a large order of refreshments, including vegetable platters, five two-litre bottles of sparkling water, plants, and a large bag of fruit for a free, family friendly event that we were hosting for anyone to join in.
Unloading this amount of food takes approximately three trips to my vehicle, so I came to work extra early in order to park close to my business to make it easier to unload.
I was, quite rudely, told by a man and his wife in front of the bank, that, “No wonder there is no parking downtown, when you businesses park in front of it.” Yes, I did park in front of my business at 9 a.m. to unload a large amount of items. Then five minutes later I reparked in the pay parking lot one block away for $2 per day (a steal, if you ask me!) for the remainder of the day. There were multiple free spaces, as most businesses are not open at this time.
Please sir, do not make assumptions about others. To give you the benefit of doubt, I know you only saw me take in my purse, drink and breakfast (as a business owner, I often eat on the run) on my first trip. This was so I had enough hands free to unlock my door, turn off alarms, and also be aware of my surroundings (a recent robbing of a downtown staff member while she was opening has made us all a bit extra cautious).
Please do not criticize our local downtown merchants as we all work extremely hard to encourage customers to come downtown to shop and enjoy the beauty of our city.
Suzan Kostiuck
Owner of Excellent Frameworks
Home of the E.J. Hughes Gallery