So sad that I have to announce that I can no longer maintain my store at the Iroquois Village Plaza
It has been a long time coming, I hung on longer than my finances could maintain, however I just wholeheartedly believed that our community would support a natural health store on the territory and I still believe it is a necessary initiative to support whole community health.
When an Indigenous woman owned business is not supported in the big downtown core of the community, I am left with no other decision to move out of one of the busiest prime spots.
Even once I knew that I had to make this decision, it has been emotionally difficult to have to make this announcement so it is has been delayed. It's admitting failure, it's seeing the huge financial commitment that I invested in this venture go down the tubes. It's seeing my dream, vision being unsupported within the community. It is my great amount of time and energy wasted, leaving me feeling very broken and defeated, but here I am. I want nothing more to climb under a rock, retreat and not be even seen in the community, However as hard as it is, I do have to carry on finalizing the move and the steps. So much shame and embarrassment to carry. The greatest embarrassment of all is knowing that my grandchildren and other youth will witness my failure, especially when I wanted nothing more to try to show them that when you help your community, work hard and go after your passion, you can succeed.
It's not just the dream of my own personal employment, but there is so much that I hoped for, improved health of our community members, to be able to employ others, growing the business to support more employment within the community, (I have had many students and others dropping off resumes and had to turn them away) Even when I do have others covering a shift here and there, it was a loss for me. It's the dream of being able to support other community initiatives. I did still support when I could with small donations, fundraisers, prizes, vouchers to various community services, language programs, sports teams, etc. I also still supported individual's fundraising efforts for their personal goals. It saddens me when I cannot, when I see someone needing extra finances for their children, health expenses, schooling, extracurricular activities and I an unable to contribute.
When I don't receive the community's support it extremely limits what I can support even though I am asked about on a weekly basis for this or that fundraising effort. I have had many walk through the door asking for donations.
Recently I made an advertising social media contest post to win 2 Essential Oils, given my limited finances to advertise in other media. I had only one community member participate and share my post, yet I see so many share other advertising contests. I have tried to bring in so many other exceptional products, earth friendly wears and gift items, within my financial means. I held many other different events and offered other services however the support didn't happen or quickly dwindled, so that I could no longer mutually help other practitioners also offer their services. Though I am one of a couple, if not the only service provider that offers ion foot detoxes, another community member hosted a distant service provider to come into the community to offer the same service. I get that I may not be everyone's cup of tea. I offered weekly discounted products, senior's discounts, giveaways to help offset the expense of natural health expenses for customers.
Even despite all this, I am still willing to try something different. I am moving my products to my house and I do not know what that will look like. I am leaning to just doing online orders for delivery or possibly pick up and continuing consultation services and testing in an office out of my home. I have yet to work that out. Please stay tuned. I very much wanted to avoid the digital aspect and keep a small country(Rez) store atmosphere/vib. I think it is really sad that the human connection is being lost to so much digital bombardment that we and our children have to navigate in todays society.
I do have some fantastic loyal customers and if you are reading this, you are probably one of them. I am so appreciative of being a part of your natural health and wellness journey. I am also sorry that some times that you had to wait for your favourite products because I had to jungle orders with the limited incoming finances. I wholeheartedly thank you for your continued support if you hung in here with me. I know that many chose to venture off reserve or resorted to online ordering. I had always hoped to grow to offer a wider range of supplements and more variety. I could have only done that as the community supported the store.
Right now, my emotions and thoughts are pretty raw, It is hard to speak about this without crying. Please excuse my emotions if I cannot always hold it together while I go through this process.
I plan to have some sales soon, however some of my best sellers and recently new products that I just brought in will only be discounted a minimal amount as I can move them to my new location. I plan to make it my final day April 30th. Then I plan to take the month of May to move. I hope you will still frequent the store as I still have to pay the rent for 2 more months and the wholesale cost of my products. Thank you for taking the time if you read this far.