‘We can’t compete’: Longtime East Vancouver daycare on brink of closing

A longtime, flexible daycare service in East Vancouver faces closure as the manager says it is struggling to compete with subsidized, full-time daycare.

Ayumi Kato says Buddings Daycare has operated in the community since 2011 but had to shut down one of its two locations last year. Now, its remaining centre is on the brink of financial failure and closure by Christmas, unless it can sign on a handful more families by Friday, Nov. 15.

Buddings offers flexible and emergency childcare to families and was founded “when care costs were on par with mortgages, and children were in school before families got a spot, even if they’d been on the list before the child was born!” according to its website.

However, the flexible model relies on serving many families to cover operating costs, and according to Kato, they have steadily lost business as government policies and subsidization have helped make full-time daycare spaces more plentiful and cheaper.

“We have a lot of families who use our daycare but they leave us when they get the full-time spots. It’s cheaper because full-time spots get the funding,” Kato explained to 1130 NewsRadio.

Despite cutting fees from $800, depending on the package, to a $500 flat rate for up to 40 hours per month, Kato says they can not compete.

“People are leaving for a full-time spot or just waiting for one. They don’t come to us unless it’s an emergency. We can’t manage it because it is a small business. That’s our problem,” she explained.

Kato insists flexible care up to 40 hours a week is still needed for families who experience delays in finding full-time care.

“They are coming to our daycare to fill the gap until they get a spot and leave us. We can also accept as young as 18 months old, which doesn’t really happen at full-time care. That helps families a lot. But without government funding for us, it’s expensive for them.”

In October, Buddings made a public plea to sign up enough families to reach a total of 50 spots filled by Friday. As of Wednesday, Kato said they had almost reached that goal.

“So far, 38 families have signed up, and we are still processing five to seven applications. So, we still need to collect five more families and keep the numbers of the families at least until the end of the school year. Otherwise, we will have the same problem,” she shared.

An online fundraiser has also been launched to help pay for interim operating costs but, as of Thursday morning, had only collected $4,300 of its $18,000 goal.