Some Fredericton Businesses Feeling Impact Of Few Student Customers
FREDERICTON — Some small businesses in Fredericton are feeling the impacts of the lack of student customers this year.
Fredericton houses four major post-secondary institutions: The University of New Brunswick (UNB), St. Thomas University (STU), New Brunswick Community College, and the New Brunswick College for Craft and Design. This year, Covid-19 forced all to shift from in-person education to school at home.
For convenience stores located near campus, like Regent Mart & Kitchen, it means their main customer base is gone.
“Everything is because of the pandemic,” said owner Majid Kormi. “Right now, I have no customers from the campus because the universities are closed for in-person classes and all classes are online.”
Kormi moved from Iran to Canada in 2017 through a provincial nominee program as an entrepreneur. Last April he opened Regent Mart and Kitchen, where he sells the staples of a convenience store in addition to pizza and Persian food.
Located on Regent street and less than a five-minute walk from campus, it is centrally located for student housing from STU and UNB.
“Wrong time in the right place,” said Kormi.
Opening in the year of the pandemic means Kormi doesn’t qualify for the same governmental aid others do.
“I know many other small businesses, like mine, that are suffering,” said Kormi. “The bad news is the government is talkative about supporting small businesses but in fact, they don’t do it.”
Meanwhile downtown, the story is a little different for long-standing, student frequented, businesses like the Capital Complex, which last March rebranded to The Cap. Owner Zachary Atkinson says though he hasn’t seen a decrease in student business, Covid-19 has changed the way students come to the club.
Out are crowded dance floors and in are spacious porches. Last May to accommodate Covid-19 restrictions, restaurants and bars had to keep all seating areas six feet apart. For The Cap, this meant opening their porch as a seating area.
“A younger audience, mature students, young [professionals were] the first that were coming out, being able to hang out with friends again,” said Atkinson.
Instead of coming out at midnight, students were coming out in the early evening. This was a change from students’ habits of late-night clubbing.
“The student support there was very helpful,” said Atkinson.
But The Cap’s clientele is made up of more than just students. Customers who have been coming since their college days still want to go to the Wilser’s room every week.
“People who have been coming here for 10, 20 years,” said Atkinson. “We’ve grown up with them.”
One thing all Cap customers agree upon is the importance of live music. Last summer, The Cap expanded into their parking lot to host in-person seated concerts.
“[We had] a lot of positivity from that, a lot of excited people to be able to take in a live music concert when most of the summer there wasn’t any happening in the world.”
Now, Atkinson is focusing his efforts on featuring live music as much as possible. This September, The Cap ran a “Keep it Live” to promote live performances during the pandemic safely. They are also hosting live concerts and trivia on their Facebook.
“It’s a massive shift in how our business works,” he said.
Back up the hill at the Regent Mart & Kitchen, Kormi said his plans to expand the restaurant portion of his business are put on hold. The plan now is to hopefully ride things out until students return to campus.
“I believe we have to wait,” he said. “Hope is the only thing we can have.”