By Matthew Van Dongen
Elgin Street, known for its abundance of restaurants and bistros, is poised to lose two of its rare specialty retail stores – Invisible Cinema and Organised Sound.
Owners of the two stores, located at 354 Elgin St., say they’ve been told their leases will not be renewed in April. The landlord, identified by the tenants as Joe Eyamie, would not comment on the reasons for his decision.
Invisible Cinema is a specialty video store that deals in foreign films and documentaries, according to co-owner Wyatt Boyd. “Our motto is films for all tastes, and the lack thereof,” he says.
Boyd says his store has only been operating out of the Elgin Street space for about a year, but he and partner Pam Meldrum have paid over $10,000 for extensive renovations to the space, and they were hoping to sign a three-year lease extension.
“We’ve sunk a lot of money into this space,” he says. “It’s really frustrating.”
Boyd says he and his partner are still paying off loans from the renovations, which included reinforcing the floor-supports of their space and tearing down and rebuilding walls.
He expects new start-up costs, and the downtime between moving and setting up shop again, to add thousands of extra dollars to their debt. “This was almost the straw that broke the camels back,” he says. “But we’ll soldier on.”
Boyd says the move will mean a loss of diversity for Elgin Street businesses. “There are certainly a lot of restaurants on this street – we’re sort of an island of retail culture.”
Bruno Racine, owner of The Hair Loft on Elgin Street, says losing stores like Invisible Cinema and Organised Sound can take away from the ambience of a street like Elgin, which is already dominated by restaurants and bars.
“It’s not as good if it’s only restaurants and bars- you need a mix.”
Andy McQuade, one of three owners of Organised Sound, agrees.
He says Elgin Street needs stores like his. “We are doing something really different here, he says. “But I guess there’s just no room for it.”
Organised Sound is a music store dealing in a variety of diverse genres, ranging from electronica to indie-rock to world music.
Mark Fernandes, a self-described “frequent music buyer,” says he is been a regular customer at Organised Sound since they opened four years ago.
Fernandes also rents a lot of movies at Invisible Cinema. “It’s sort of a one-stop shopping destination for me,” he says.
Fernandes says he’ll follow the two stores wherever they end up, but he doubts he’ll be spending as much time on Elgin Street. “It’s all bars and bistros – there’s a definite lack of diversity,” he says. “I don’t think there’s much to draw me there now.”
McQuade says he has mixed feelings about the move. He says business has been good lately, and they’ve been experiencing a “slow but steady incline” in sales each year.
“We’re sort of established here, and it will be hard to break away from that,” he says.
But on the other hand, McQuade admits he is looking forward to a change.
His store will be moving to 591-A Bank Street effective April 1.
“Things are getting crammed in here,” he says, adding that they’re planning for a steady expansion at their new location.
Boyd says it’s important to find a place fairly close to the old location in order to keep loyal customers with them.
“We definitely want to stay in Centretown,” says the co-owner of Invisible Cinema.