A Halifax small business owner says he’s trying to stay positive after construction on Dutch Village Road has slowed business to a crawl.
Mohammad Ashiq, the co-owner of Hello Pets, says the year began well for business but things quickly deteriorated in the spring.
“We were expecting the construction would have an effect on our sales. But we weren’t expecting the level of effect that it is having right now,” he said.
Ashiq opened the pet store in the Fairview neighbourhood in 2022, along with his brother and their friend.
He says during their short time in business, they’ve seen growth and a positive response from the community.
“We had a really good increase in our sales and like we’re doing well. But since the construction started, it kind of really hit the pause in our momentum,” he said.
“We’re just trying to catch up and trying to make ends meet, basically.”
He says the municipality gave him advanced notice about the construction work, which includes adding sidewalks and bike lanes to the street, but he wishes more had been done to mitigate the disruption to his business.
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He would have liked to see crews working on portions of the street at a time or during certain times of the day. Instead, it’s full-on closures.
“We are just trying to kind of adapt to the situation as much as we can with the little resources that we have as a small business,” he said.
Duncan Robertson, Nova Scotia’s legislative affairs director with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, says what’s happening to Ashiq’s business isn’t unique.
Robertson says 22 per cent of Atlantic Canadian businesses reported major disruptions due to construction. As a result, the CFIB is calling on the province and municipality to offer some form of compensation to local businesses.
Among the jurisdictions that offer financial compensation are Montreal and Quebec City, which both have construction mitigation programs for small businesses.
“Now growth and construction is not a bad thing, but we really want governments to understand that this is having a real impact on our small businesses,” Robertson said.
“When we see other municipalities step up by providing financial support, this should happen here in Nova Scotia as well.”
Halifax Regional Municipality doesn’t currently offer compensation to small businesses.
Spokesperson Jake Fulton acknowledges that construction is disruptive to business, saying in a statement that “the municipality and the contractor will continue to provide businesses and residents with advance notice of any changes to traffic flow or access.”
But Ashiq wants the municipality to offer something more.
“I feel like not just financial compensation, but there has to be some other creative ways to kind of support our small businesses,” he said.
Construction along Dutch Village Road is expected to continue until December.
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