Many Small Businesses ‘Falling Through The Cracks’ Says N.S. Businesswoman
TRURO – Alicia Simms is in a situation facing many small business owners across Nova Scotia. Her business revenue has been diminished by the current Covid-19 lockdown yet isn’t entitled to many of the benefits offered by the provincial government.
Simms actually owns three businesses, all of which fall into different categories. She owns Rolling Sea Tattooery, Truro Buzz (a media website), and a tourism company called Secret Nova Scotia. Out of the three, only the tattoo parlour has qualified for the province’s small business impact grant, since parlours and salons were forced to close under public health orders.
She currently doesn’t receive the federal wage subsidy, since she has been forced to layoff any employees she once had. Rolling Sea did receive a rent subsidy in 2020 after her landlord applied for it under the older federal program.
The Truro-based businesswoman explains that Secret Nova Scotia was supposed to open for tours in May. That hasn’t been possible since half of her tours go through county lines. But since the lockdown happened before she could even open, Secret Nova Scotia didn’t qualify for the $5,000 grant. Without support, she fears that this business, which she bought just a year prior, is dead in the water.
“Secret Nova Scotia is pretty much hanging on a thread, because last year was our first year of operation and we weren’t able to get started until the end of June,” explains Simms.
“This year we geared up…and we’re just cut out at the knees again. Tourism businesses are definitely paying the price. We just don’t know if we’re going to be able to operate this year, I’m probably just going to kill it because I can’t sink any more money into it and hope that things return.”
Simms does give the government credit where credit is due. Through provincial government programs, she was able to receive some free advertising for Secret Nova Scotia and was paired with a digital business advisor. But Simms, like most struggling operators, need cash in hand to pay business expenses.
“(Those programs) are lovely, but I still have overhead that I can’t pay for, and I have staff I had to lay off,” she explained. “Where’s the support for all of that stuff?”
The free advertising also didn’t help bring in much revenue, at the end of the day. People who inquired about Secret Nova Scotia tours were hesitant to book in advance, since there is yet to be a timeline on reopening the province.
“We got dozens of emails; it was so encouraging, until anyone had to pay to book,” lamented Simms. “Nobody wants to put a penny down on anything until they’re going because nobody knows what condition we’re going to be in. Nobody wants to have to renege on their plans and worry about refunds, even though there’s a refund policy in place.”
As for Truro Buzz, the media company is also barely hanging on, with Simms trying to now run the site on her own. The webzine keeps Truro residents up to date with events and activities happening in the town. The money is made, of course, through advertising revenue. But during lockdown, few businesses are spending their limited resources on ad space. But, like her tourism company, Truro Buzz wasn’t forced to shutdown by government order, so it doesn’t qualify for the impact grant.
“Everybody else is closed, who’s spending money on advertising?” Asks Simms. “There’s no events, there’s no nothing. I’m still going, but I’m operating it totally by myself now. And I’m just doing it for free to keep it going.”
Simms three businesses are bringing in such low revenue, due to the pandemic, that she is receiving CERB payments as a self-employed person.
Simms is speaking out because she believes there must be a lot of businesses out there, especially in tourism, that are falling under the radar of government support programs.
“I understand they have a lot on their plate, and I’m certainly not here to criticize anyone about it,” states Simms. “I just want to find out about the people who are falling through the cracks on the third run around.”