At the celebration of the grand re-opening of Changes For You on Davis Drive after nearly two decades on Main Street Newmarket, the predominant feeling from its longtime owners was one of relief rather than elation.
“It used to be about getting up in the morning and wondering how you are going to survive,” said Rory Rodrigo, director of Changes For You for more than 10 years. “Greed is a funny thing and it makes people do things without thinking them through.”
Changes For You, a specialty boutique that provides wigs, mastectomy products and other fashion offerings, is just one of several long-standing businesses on Newmarket’s Main Street choosing to re-locate due to dramatically increasing rent prices.
The have left their well-established location at 207 Main St. S. to reopen at 1100 Davis Dr. because the rent hike was simply too exorbitant, according to Rodrigo and his wife, Penelope, who owns the store.
“It comes down to a lot of (landlords) who got greedy. They wanted us to pay more than three times the rent we were paying last year,” he said. “No matter how I tried to negotiate, there was no fruition to it. Our last payment was $1,800 per month and then they wanted over $6,000 (per month).”
For the family business centred around aiding women with cancer, early hair loss and alopecia by offering wigs and post-breast mastectomy clothing, a move away from Main Street was the only way to keep the doors open.
“We are a community-based village business that supplies services to people in need. We are not a high-end retail establishment and we do not have tons of traffic bringing people into our store, so there was just no way,” Rodrigo said.
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Another women’s clothing store, Still in Style, just two shops away from Changes For You at 203 Main St. S., is also moving after 35 years at that location.
Co-owners Cathy Humpage and Kimberley Perdue said they made the decision to move off Main for multiple reasons, including high rent prices.
Perdue says their landlord asked for a 30 per cent increase in rent each month, as well as a charge of $10 per square foot for the shop’s basement storage unit.
“We came back with what we thought was a fair proposal of an increase over a five-year term and (the landlord) did not even look at it, he just said he wanted $40 per square foot,” she added. “It was emotional for both of us, and especially for Cathy who has been on board with Still in Style since 1991,” said Perdue.
Still in Style will relocate to 1100 Gorham St., Unit 14, with the owners aiming to be moved out of the Main Street location by the end of February.
“While I don't think (we) anticipated that we would have to move, there are parts we are looking forward to, like having a parking lot and redesigning the interior. We will miss (being on Main Street), but it does not outweigh having to pay that kind of enormous increase. We would go under,” Perdue said.
Last June, Changes For You was slated to move to a property that required a lease signing of July 1. However, Rodrigo said the Main Street landlord would not allow for a termination of their lease, delaying the inevitable move to the new year.
Rodrigo said they are paying roughly a third of the amount they would have to pay at their previous location on Main Street.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Jan. 15, with Newmarket-Aurora MPP Dawn Gallagher Murphy, Newmarket Mayor John Taylor, Deputy Mayor Tom Vegh, councillors Victor Woodhouse and Grace Simon, along with other representatives, family and friends.
Leigh-Ann Rodrigo, who has worked alongside her mother at the boutique for the past 10 years, said she hopes their business will flourish at the new location.
“Most of our clients are not in the best spot in their lives and are dealing with some difficult health issues. To be able to continue providing them with some support and make them feel better about their situation is always rewarding,” she said.
