Small Business

Small business owners are feeling the pinch from inflationary pressures and taxes. (Black Press File Photo)

B.C. small business owners worried about tax bills, inflation

A survey from Ownr found 31 per cent of small business owners are worried about their tax burden

 

A produce vendor awaits his next customer during the monthly market at Royal Athletic Park. Mobile food and service vendors are invited to apply for free permits to operate on two-week rotations at one of 15 spots in eight locations around Victoria this summer and early fall. (Photo courtesy North Park Neighbourhood Association)

Prime Victoria sites up for grabs for mobile vendors this summer, fall

City permits free; 15 spots available at eight locations on 2-week rotation

 

Nanaimo author Josh Gillingham has created the Vancouver Island Coffee Tour website that includes a map with directions to a growing list of more than 50 independent coffee roasters across the Island and Gulf Islands that tourists and residents can follow to find the region’s best brews. (Chris Bush/News Bulletin)

Nanaimo author’s online ‘coffee tour’ an added perk for visiting Vancouver Island

Residents and visitors can follow guide to more than 50 Island-region coffee roasters

 

Kimberli Koh of Happy Tail Dog Service in Sidney laments council’s decision to offer a shut-down competitor a chance to apply for a temporary use permit, after committee of the whole recommended support for OCP and zoning changes that could have allowed Pooch Parlour to remain in a West Sidney industrial area. (Wolf Depner/News Staff)

Local dog groomer in Sidney expresses support for shut-down competitor

Kimberli Koh also frustrated by council’s decisions around Pooch Parlour

Kimberli Koh of Happy Tail Dog Service in Sidney laments council’s decision to offer a shut-down competitor a chance to apply for a temporary use permit, after committee of the whole recommended support for OCP and zoning changes that could have allowed Pooch Parlour to remain in a West Sidney industrial area. (Wolf Depner/News Staff)
The Nature Bee busy bees outside their Veyaness Road location in Keating. (Courtesy of Nature Bee)

Central Saanich beeswax wrap seller nominated for two Small Business BC Awards

Katie Gamble’s Nature Bee business built on community, sustainability

The Nature Bee busy bees outside their Veyaness Road location in Keating. (Courtesy of Nature Bee)
Darioush Diba, owner of Bubby’s Restaurant, stands outside its Menzies Street location. He questions the need for the level of traffic restrictions into James Bay as are being exercised by VicPD. (Kiernan Green/News Staff)

Some James Bay eateries less busy, staff late since VicPD checkpoints installed

Operators have mixed views on need for Victoria police controls on neighbourhood entry

Darioush Diba, owner of Bubby’s Restaurant, stands outside its Menzies Street location. He questions the need for the level of traffic restrictions into James Bay as are being exercised by VicPD. (Kiernan Green/News Staff)
Jenny Crandall, who’s been in business for more than 20 years in Sooke, is closing her shop. Crandall hopes she’ll find somewhere new to operate in the new year. (Bailey Moreton - Sooke News Mirror)

Sooke institution Jenny’s closing after 20 years

Owner Jenny Crandall says she’ll take some rest time then look for new locations in the new year

Jenny Crandall, who’s been in business for more than 20 years in Sooke, is closing her shop. Crandall hopes she’ll find somewhere new to operate in the new year. (Bailey Moreton - Sooke News Mirror)
Downtown Victoria Business Association executive director Jeff Bray discusses the resiliency of downtown businesses throughout the pandemic at an event this summer. (Black Press Media file photo)

COLUMN: DVBA celebrates Small Business Month in Victoria

Small businesses, their owners and employees are the lifeblood of downtown Victoria

  • Oct 11, 2021
Downtown Victoria Business Association executive director Jeff Bray discusses the resiliency of downtown businesses throughout the pandemic at an event this summer. (Black Press Media file photo)
Enjoying a beverage on a restaurant patio in Port Alberni comes with some new COVID-19 conditions as of Sept. 13, 2021. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

Island businesses grapple with threats as new COVID-19 vaccine passports start

‘These things are beyond our control…there is no option to opt out.’

Enjoying a beverage on a restaurant patio in Port Alberni comes with some new COVID-19 conditions as of Sept. 13, 2021. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)
Markus Spodzieja (centre) with his crew members at the Bikery bakery. (Kiernan Green / News Staff)

The Bikery opens Island’s first kosher bakery in Victoria’s Public Market

Baker Markus Spodzieja and business partner Kimanda Jarzebiak filling a local niche

Markus Spodzieja (centre) with his crew members at the Bikery bakery. (Kiernan Green / News Staff)
Isaiah Archer (from left), Nina Colovic, Iwan Williams and Matt West-Patrick are partners of Whistle Buoy Brewing Co. Fifth partner Colin Curtis is not pictured. (Kiernan Green/News Staff)

Best of the City: Beers, buds, no boats – this is Whistle Buoy Brewing Co.

Following the local craft brewing trend, Whistle Buoy has made over 120 names for itself

Isaiah Archer (from left), Nina Colovic, Iwan Williams and Matt West-Patrick are partners of Whistle Buoy Brewing Co. Fifth partner Colin Curtis is not pictured. (Kiernan Green/News Staff)
Customers fill their carts at The Root Cellar store on McKenzie Avenue. Daisy and Adam Orser opened the location 13 years ago and are working on transforming the former Oxford Foods in Cook Street Village into theiir second store. (Emma Rossum Photography)

Second Root Cellar store to open in Victoria as early as late fall

Customers serve as motivators for co-owner Daisy Orser amid pandemic

Customers fill their carts at The Root Cellar store on McKenzie Avenue. Daisy and Adam Orser opened the location 13 years ago and are working on transforming the former Oxford Foods in Cook Street Village into theiir second store. (Emma Rossum Photography)
Street and sidewalk patios are officially OK until June 2022. (Christine van Reeuwyk/News Staff).

Oak Bay peruses potential for permanent patios in public spaces

Current patio use on sidewalks and parking spaces has been extended to June 2022

Street and sidewalk patios are officially OK until June 2022. (Christine van Reeuwyk/News Staff).
Gonzales Coffee owner Doug Pelton, left, and manager Sam Benson enjoy a coffee outside their store in Fairfield Plaza. (Evert Lindquist/News Staff)

Gonzales Coffee has filled caffeine gap at Victoria’s Fairfield Plaza

Owner aims to connect community, offer unique goods in place of coffee giant

Gonzales Coffee owner Doug Pelton, left, and manager Sam Benson enjoy a coffee outside their store in Fairfield Plaza. (Evert Lindquist/News Staff)
Eric Taccogna (left), Justin Kopetzki, Adam Conlin co-own Victoria-based Justo’s Craft Dips – a finalist in two Small Business BC Awards. (Courtesy Justo’s Craft Dips)

Victoria craft dip company a finalist in two Small Business BC Award categories

Young entrepreneurs behind Justo’s Craft Dips focus on sustainability, positivity

  • Mar 27, 2021
Eric Taccogna (left), Justin Kopetzki, Adam Conlin co-own Victoria-based Justo’s Craft Dips – a finalist in two Small Business BC Awards. (Courtesy Justo’s Craft Dips)
The Very Good Butchers, a vegan butcher shop, is opening a new flagship location in downtown Victoria. (Courtesy of the Very Good Butchers)

Vegan butcher shop to open new flagship store in downtown Victoria

The Very Good Butcher Shop appeared in Dragons’ Den in 2018

The Very Good Butchers, a vegan butcher shop, is opening a new flagship location in downtown Victoria. (Courtesy of the Very Good Butchers)
The coronavirus and the drastic measures put in place by government officials to try to control its spread had a severe toll on many small businesses. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

B.C. pilot program launches to help small businesses weather COVID

1,000 entrepreneurs across the province will be chosen to receive free help from experts

The coronavirus and the drastic measures put in place by government officials to try to control its spread had a severe toll on many small businesses. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Kiki Lally is seen in an undated handout photo at Pinnovate, a craft studio in Calgary. When the pandemic began, Lally couldn’t host birthday parties, camps or bridal showers anymore, so she started making DIY kits and offering them for delivery. The DIY kits had to be sold through a new website called DIY Delivery that she built. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Jennifer Chabot, *MANDATORY CREDIT*

‘Not as easy as it looks’: Small businesses share what it takes to move online

Shipping, fitting all made complicated by COVID

Kiki Lally is seen in an undated handout photo at Pinnovate, a craft studio in Calgary. When the pandemic began, Lally couldn’t host birthday parties, camps or bridal showers anymore, so she started making DIY kits and offering them for delivery. The DIY kits had to be sold through a new website called DIY Delivery that she built. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Jennifer Chabot, *MANDATORY CREDIT*
In a whirlwind of a year, Sarah Shaw and her husband met, married, moved to Victoria and bought a sailboat that they plan to move onto in April. (Courtesy of Sarah Shaw)

Greater Victoria residents share positive pandemic experiences

Silver linings come from challenges of COVID-19

In a whirlwind of a year, Sarah Shaw and her husband met, married, moved to Victoria and bought a sailboat that they plan to move onto in April. (Courtesy of Sarah Shaw)
Shopping in the evening in downtown Victoria can be a good time to go, with relatively few people in store and plenty of room to physically distance, as this photo from Government Street shows. (Don Descoteau/News Staff) Shopping in the evening in downtown Victoria can be a good time to go, with relatively few people in store and plenty of room to physically distance, as this photo from Government Street shows. But thanks to a new program from the Downtown Victoria Business Association, many downtown businesses will soon be able to provide free delivery for customers across the region. (Don Descoteau/News Staff)

Downtown Victoria businesses offered free delivery for regional customers

DVBA launches ‘Downtown Delivers’ program Dec. 7

Shopping in the evening in downtown Victoria can be a good time to go, with relatively few people in store and plenty of room to physically distance, as this photo from Government Street shows. (Don Descoteau/News Staff) Shopping in the evening in downtown Victoria can be a good time to go, with relatively few people in store and plenty of room to physically distance, as this photo from Government Street shows. But thanks to a new program from the Downtown Victoria Business Association, many downtown businesses will soon be able to provide free delivery for customers across the region. (Don Descoteau/News Staff)