Saskatoon small businesses cope as smashed windows impact their bottom line

Saskatoon police stats show incidents of property damage like smashed windows have risen in some neighbourhoods over most of the last five years, leaving businesses coping with the cost.

The statistics show broken window incidents, which fall under the category of mischief, increased every year except one between 2019 and 2023 in Pleasant Hill, Riversdale and downtown. The number of reported occurrences went from 530 in 2019 to 749 last year. Stats are still being collected to the end of 2024.

Julianna Tan runs a small store on 20th Street that sells products including homemade chocolates. Earlier this fall, her front door was smashed in the early morning hours — and it was caught on security camera.

“An individual had come by and just threw a brick in, and he did just a quick loop and it’s fortunate and unfortunate. The unfortunate part is, obviously we had our door smashed. Fortunately, no vandalism or theft occurred — which is a miracle — so we’re very lucky,” Tan told CTV News.

The door was recently fixed, but she had plywood covering it as a temporary fix. Her next-door neighbor still has plywood on their door — it was also shattered the same night.

Business owner Julianna Tan says someone recently hurled a brick through her front window, November, 2024. (Carla Shynkaruk / CTV News)

The head of the Riversdale Business Improvement District (BID) says property crime is a growing concern.

“It’s impacting the small and medium sized business owner dramatically, because it's a hit to their bottom line,” said Randy Pshebylo, director of the Riversdale BID.

This type of property crime can make a storefront less attractive to customers, and Pshebylo says it makes some staff feel uneasy about coming into work.

“A lot of people are having issues with people not coming to work.”

On top of the risk of losing staff and customers who don’t think it’s safe to visit, there’s insurance — all negative factors for small and medium-sized businesses.

“These are businesses who live and die by the sales they're making at their till or the customers walking through their door, how high their insurance premiums are going to go up this year, how much they have to invest in cameras,” says Jason Aebig, the CEO of the Saskatoon and Chamber of Commerce.

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When the front door of a business is vandalized, it’s an expensive fix. It’s estimated to cost about $5,000 to replace. According to Tan, that’s about three months worth of her chocolate sales.

“It's a pretty heavy cost and it has a very big impact on small local businesses, for sure.”

As a partial solution, Pshebylo recommends utilizing more revenue from parking meters to help with repairs. The city currently offers businesses a façade grant, which has been used for this type of support in the past but doesn’t even come close to covering the cost, he says.

The other solution that could help, according to Pshebylo, is to have stricter rules on loitering in front of businesses and on sidewalks. More enforcement would also need to be part of this plan, and he’d like to see more support officers patrolling the area as a proactive approach, which he maintains would strengthen neighbourhood relationships.

“They're no longer on the street like they used to in three city business districts and the business owners have noticed that. They're asking the question: ‘where are they?’ We need them back.”

The growth Saskatoon is seeing and the challenges that come along with that are not necessarily a new phenomenon, according to Chamber head Aebig. He says seeing boarded up windows and doors is a product of that.

“The dynamics of some of our retail districts are also changing. Owners are doing what they need to do to make sure that they can protect not only their property, but their customers and their employees and I think it reflects some of the realities and challenges that they are seeing and experiencing on the street,” he said.

Even after having her storefront damaged, Tan has no plans to move. She’s optimistic things will improve, and she’s committed to running her business in Riversdale.