This Alberta city’s small businesses are ‘rolling the dice’ amid skyrocketing rent increases

Small business owners in Beaumont, Alta. say they're being forced to make tough decisions after the cost of rent skyrocketed.

Several businesses in a city south of Edmonton are facing a few less-than-ideal options as their rent increases: close, relocate, or “roll the dice.”

Sylvia Cheverie says her Beaumont restaurant, Chartier, is taking a chance on its profits as she and co-founder Darren Cheverie decide to stay, pay a higher rent, and hope to break even.

For the rustic French-Canadian restaurant and bakery that’s been a community staple on 50 Street for 10 years, hurdles are nothing new. But rising rents means she’s once again trimming costs “with scalpels.”

Rental rates, specifically in the Centre-Ville/downtown area, she says, are “skyrocketing.” She’s seen five businesses in a two-block radius close in the last two months.

“I think so many small businesses have faced insurmountable challenges over the past 10 years … There’s less disposable income to go around, which is a huge impact. Then you add in things like COVID-19, and we came very close to closing a couple years ago,” she told CTV News Edmonton.

While she wasn’t comfortable giving the exact number Chartier pays monthly, she says they were able to negotiate a rental rate comparable to Edmonton’s popular (and fairly expensive) Whyte Avenue.

“It’s making a bad situation worse. The cost of our inputs have gone up significantly, whether that be food, electricity, natural gas, water … When you throw rent on top of that, that’s kind of an invisible cost that doesn’t inherently benefit our guests.”

Kristine Nelson of Bee and Key Boutique, a nearby consignment store that carries locally made, women-owned business products, says she moved out of her old rented space after seeing a 50 per cent increase to her rent.

When she opened the boutique five years ago, she was paying $25 per square foot. The new offer was nearly $40.

“There is absolutely no way that I could have done it. It’s completely unaffordable,” she said.

She’s since found a partnership and relocated to a different part of Beaumont.

“We’re at the building owner’s mercy, so there’s absolutely nothing we can do about it. Navigating this, negotiating has proven to not be a solution either. It’s either pay what they’re asking or move out.”

While both her and Cheverie have reached out to the municipality, Beaumont’s administration says business is booming for many.

“We are seeing that commercial spaces are filling up in Beaumont almost as fast as they become available,” wrote Mayor Lisa Vanderkwaak in a statement to CTV News Edmonton.

“Commercial vacancies dropped significantly from 21.3 per cent in 2023 to only 4.6 per cent as of this April.”

She did acknowledge that she’s heard “anecdotally” of rising rents in the Centre-Ville area and had tasked city administration with comparing rates in neighbouring communities to get a picture of what’s happening.

“As a small business owner myself, I know personally the sacrifices and hard work it takes to run a business and how it can sometimes be a struggle. I’m saddened and concerned by the recent business closures in Centre-Ville.”

Cheverie says she doesn’t see high rates and competition as a win for many established small businesses, but she’s trying to remain optimistic. She believes multiple layers of government protection should be implemented for small business owners to protect them as renters.

CTV News Edmonton has reached out to the Alberta government about tenancy contract laws and changes but did not receive a response by time of publication.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson