Struggling to stay afloat in Vancouver, Finch’s Tea House asks community for support

A Vancouver coffee shop owner says her business is struggling to pay down almost $100,000 in debt built up from years of pandemic losses, rising costs due to inflation, and vandalism.

As Sheryl Matthews explains, her two locations just aren’t designed to run while holding onto that much debt.

“It’s just really hard to do, because how do I make it the same quality while paying down all that debt for years to come? It’ll take years … it’s been three and a half years,” she said.

After serving food and coffee for almost two decades in Vancouver, Matthews says she’s been forced to turn to the community and patrons for donations to stay afloat.

Bridgitte Anderson with the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade says B.C. businesses are expecting and bracing for higher inflation – and increasing labour costs next quarter.

“Well, unfortunately, Finch’s isn’t the only small business that is facing a situation like this,” she said.

“It comes at a time when many of these businesses have debt already. And so when they look ahead to next year, it is a very challenging economic time, and many businesses are saying they’re going to see a decrease in profitability and also an increase in costs.”

To most, it would seem Finch’s isn’t having issues when they pop in for a coffee.

The baguettes were sold out by the afternoon and customers filled the seats, except near a window that was recently smashed. That incident of vandalism was the ninth in 18 months according to Matthews, another expensive repair for a business operating in the red.

“It’s sad. It’s really, really sad. You would hope that the city would want to give places like this money, cut them a break somehow, to keep the culture alive,” one customer told CityNews.

“I would really miss Finch’s if it closed, for sure – I used to come here a lot,” another added.

While nearly $100,000 in debt sounds like a lot for a small business, the Canadian Federation for Independent Business says that is about average.

“Over $101,000 is the average debt for small businesses in B.C. right now, which really goes to show you just how precarious of a position they’re in. Currently, 19 per cent of businesses are at risk of closure, and I’m sure there’s some correlation there,” said Emily Boston, a policy analyst for the federation.

“You can’t run a nice relaxed little business anymore. Even when I was a teenager in this city you could do that,” Matthews added.