Photo: Kirk Penton
The building at Pandosy and Lawrence flooded on Oct. 26.
If it weren’t for bad luck, Jaye Coward would have no luck at all when it comes to opening her business in downtown Kelowna.
Coward was all set to open the Farm Bound Organic Zero-Waste grocery store at 438 Lawrence Ave. in mid-September when a water main break flooded her property with eight inches of water. She had just stocked the shelves the night before.
“I was going to take the weekend off and relax and start setting everything out on Monday, and then Saturday the store flooded,” Coward said. “So it was a little disheartening, but we were remaining positive.”
The water main was repaired—or so everyone thought. On Oct. 26 the repair job failed, and this time the break flooded the entire building, which also includes Olive & Elle and Mavazi Apparel. Those two stores have been closed and gutted since then, and Farm Bound Organic Zero-Waste is still waiting to open.
Since the city’s water line to the building is underneath her store, there is still a massive hole in her floor.
“Luckily, they didn’t cover it back up (after the first break), because then it would’ve been a ticking time bomb again,” Coward said. “We’re really actually lucky that it failed right away because then we’d be going through this whole process again.”
This time around the stakeholders are going to repair the break properly, which is going to involve ripping up the sidewalk in front of the building on Lawrence Avenue.
“They won’t give me a timeline at this point, but I’m hoping for access by the end of January,” Coward said. “I think that’s pretty realistic, and then it’ll take me a few weeks to get set up. So hopefully open by the end of February is what I’m crossing my fingers for.
“It’s kind of so bad that it’s funny, isn’t it?”
Coward is able to laugh a little bit because she purchased business interruption insurance for Farm Bound Organic Zero-Waste.
“I could’ve completely forgotten to do just in the haste of opening the store,” she said. “But I did, so I’m covered, and I’m being taken care of, and they’re being really helpful.”
Olive and Elle (www.oliveandelle.com) has set up shop temporarily at Sandhill Winery during renovations, while Mavazi Apparel is asking its customers to shop online (www.mavaziapparel.com).
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