After four-and-a-half years in business, Miniso, a China-based general goods store, will be closing permanently as of Oct. 31.

The owner of the 49 Street store redirected Yellowknifer鈥檚 interview request to the chain鈥檚 headquarters, but a response wasn鈥檛 forthcoming prior to press deadline.

鈥淭he store will close on Oct. 31, 2023. Thank you to all our customers,鈥� reads a Miniso Yellowknife social media post from Oct. 7.

鈥淚 haven鈥檛 heard about that,鈥� Adrian Bell, president of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce, said on Monday.

Bell emphasized that, in general, these have been a challenging few years for businesses in Yellowknife, especially those engaged in retail or tourism.

He mentioned that the disruptions caused by the wildfire evacuation and Covid-19 pandemic have hit the business community hard.

鈥淛ust when it seemed like things were getting back to normal, or like there was some hope for the recovery of tourism, we get hit with the evacuation,鈥� he said.

For some businesses, he said it proved to be 鈥渢he straw that broke the camel鈥檚 back.鈥�

Despite efforts to increase aid for these businesses, Bell fears it might be 鈥渢oo little, too late鈥� for some. He also highlighted the plight of ventures that don鈥檛 own their space and had to continue paying rent during the evacuation.

鈥淭hose costs were borne by the tenants and that is potentially crippling for a lot of businesses,鈥� Bell explained.

He also pointed to challenges faced by businesses in the downtown core compared to those outside. While the local economy is not necessarily growing, rents continue to go up along with other challenges, such as inflation.

鈥淚t鈥檚 very hard as a small business to keep up with inflation without being worried about losing your customers,鈥� said Bell.

Social issues and worries over staff safety are other realities for downtown businesses, he added. Public intoxication leading to violent encounters or intimidation has resulted in discomfort among shoppers, and some tourism operators stay away from the area, he noted.

鈥淚t鈥檚 challenging because you鈥檙e counting on these tourists and their spending, and they鈥檙e actively avoiding the downtown,鈥� Bell said.

There are efforts being made to improve the situation, he remarked. However, he believes more needs to be done before it becomes enticing to conduct business downtown.