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“Things happen out of our control and people bigger than us can crush dreams. Come say goodbye and we’ll try not to cry.” – Nelson Ma
Nelly’s Grill will close at the end of July after 30 years in Kitsilano. Photo: Joyce Yee. Photo by Joyce Yee /jpg
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The owner of a diner that has served Kitsilano breakfast with a smile for 30 years says a sudden rent increase is now forcing him to close.
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Community business representatives say they’re witnessing a similar trend happening along the West 4th Avenue strip. Other mom-and-pop stores are shrinking under the growing weight of retail marketing costs.
“Things happen beyond our control and people bigger than us can crush dreams,” Nelson Ma, 68, told his customers in a Facebook post announcing his plans to close the diner at the end of July.
“Come say goodbye and we’ll try not to cry.”
Located just east of Arbutus Street, Nelly’s Grill is a local favorite known for combining two brunch favorites into fried chicken eggs Benedict.
After purchasing the building last September, restaurant manager Joyce Yee said the new landlord – Novena Land Property – had told them of plans to increase the rent after Ma’s lease ended in 18 months.
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“He pays close to $9,000 a month in rent and property taxes, but to renew, he has to pay more than double that,” said Ee, who has worked at the diner for 17 years.
“All of our employees are grieving. We’ve watched customers’ families grow and expand over the years,” Yee said.
Nelson Ma, 68, is the owner of Nelly’s Grill, which was forced to close at the end of July after 30 years in Kitsilano. Photo: Joyce Yee jpg
Although Ma tried to find other leasing options, inflated rent costs across the city prevented him from moving the diner, Yee said. Trying to sell the business also proved difficult.
“The new owner said no to the offer we received. He has the final say and has even begun renovations upstairs while serving food. We feel we have no choice but to leave.”
Lauren Angelucci, a resident of Kitsilano for 20 years, said she was saddened to hear the news of the restaurant’s closing.
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“I’m so sad to see the place go. Our baby’s first feeding was there when he was just a week old.’
The restaurant wasn’t the first along the Strip to feel squeezed by the rising rent costs proposed following a change in ownership. In December, a realtor who came to Bishop’s restaurant told the owner that the building had been sold and that a rent increase was coming.
“The landlord told us the rent alone was going to cost $100 a square foot,” said John Bishop, who opened the fine-dining establishment in 1986 when rent and property tax costs were about $2,000 a month.
By early 2022, spending had risen to 10 times that.
“We just couldn’t afford to stay open,” Bishop said. “After 37 years in business paying rent and taxes, I thought being a good tenant might make a difference, but we weren’t offered any chance to negotiate a lease.”
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A business that operated two doors down from Nelly’s, Peak Golf, told Postmedia it moved to a cheaper West 4th store after the new landlords took over in September.
When reached by phone, Novena Land’s managing director told Postmedia he did not wish to comment on Nelly’s Grill’s decision to close.
Jane McFadden, executive director of the Kitsilano Business Association, said she has seen various shops and eateries along the main road go out of business because their prices are out of the commercial market.
“It’s a shame to see long-standing businesses like Nellie’s, which hold so many memories, go bankrupt. However, these new landlords often simply raise rents, many of which have remained the same for years under the old landlord, to current market value.
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McFadden said the west 4th business district continues to thrive.
“In the past six months, 11 new small businesses have opened physical locations along the Strip.”
While commercial rents fell in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Statistics Canada’s Commercial Rent Price Index, they began to climb back up and by early 2022 had recovered to pre-pandemic levels, although sales did not reverted back to the same degree.
In Vancouver, the average asking net commercial rent rose 27 percent year over year in the first quarter of 2022, according to Canadian real estate giant Colliers.
sgrochowski@postmedia.com
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