So, here we go again…Leaving work today and saw the sign at Kondolas “Store closing”, Everything must go…I know their prices were typically higher than the other furniture stores but this is getting ridiculous…You walk down the street and someone posted a few months ago here that there were 27 vacant storefronts on 3rd. alone. So damn depressing…My fella and I are looking to get out of here but that is a difficult endeavour as it would be most likely back to Ontario. Big move…You gotta do what you gotta do though… 
Anybody got a BIG truck 
Wow, that number of empty storefronts is really depressing to read. I know it’s never been easy to run a small business up there but I was hoping that after all these years some good news was going to come out of the port expansion in the form of people being able to hang on. Guess I was wrong.
The only people making some form of living are the drug dealers but are they really living some are soon to be Zombies and if council or chamber of commerce don’t start paying attention they will be full pledged zombies. The only people who will be working are the cops, dealers,lawyers and judges…Sorry I forgot crown who keeps having them released.
Kondolas may be leaving there, but City Furniture has purchased the building and is moving into the space in the fall.
Don’t forget foodbank workers… 
stores on 3rd ave are for the most part overpriced useless crap. we dont need 3 furnitures anyway . bring in a walmart it would employ more people than what was employed in all the empty store fronts and then some . and i would save a lot in gas money but i would still go to terrace tho i love that drive in the summer 
Yeah really… a town this size with 3 furniture stores? The writing was on the wall that one of them would close down eventually.
Agree with you on all points decker…I would like to see a womens’ wear store that does not cater to the teens, early twenties like the “boutique-y” ones that are open on Third. But I would still go to Terrace also, great scenery and GREAT to get away from here for a couple of hours…
There are tons of grants and funding opportunities available this year for anyone who wants to take the chance an open a business in the North.
Some will even let you continue collecting EI for up to a year to get you up and running.
Find a niche, research it, do a business plan and you might be eligible for funding.
Try it.
Words of advice:
If your plan relies on ‘competing’ against an existing outfit or drawing customers from a similar existing business, you’re going to crash and burn.
Service makes money from thin air and your skills alone. The best market.
Retail costs and requires capital. You’ll never compete with WalMart in Terrace, the only hope in retail is to carry what no one else has and people will still buy. That’s hard to find these days.
In the food business, the surest way to fail is to put the word “Family” in front of “Restaurant”.
Kondolas is closing here and City Furniture is closing in Terrace, both companies are owned by the same family, guess they are consolidating their businesses
Citi Furniture has bought the building where Kondolas is now and is moving in Sept.
Finding a decent storefront along third ave is a challenge. There may be alot of empty spaces but far too many need incredible amounts of work to bring them into a usable condition. While I was trying to find a spot I saw mold, leaky pipes, uneven floors, wall damage, mice poop, whatever u can imagine is there. For someone to start a business and not only have inventory and supply costs, but extremely high leasehold improvement costs is hard. It really hurts your bottom line when you have all these additional expenses to finance. I would have jumped on the opportunity if a “move in ready” location existed along third ave…but its just not there
bingo lot of buildings in town just have never been kept up.
^^^ That reminds me-the store I work at is in a pretty old building and one corner sags a bit. You tend to forget things like that until yesterday, when we took a freestanding shelving unit down and replaced it with stationary shelving . Took me a mo to figure out why things were looking so crap on the shelves…the one side of the unit is considerably lower than the other. Not so noticeable on the previous display which had giftware artfully strewn about but now? Not very nice and I doubt the landlord would be arsed to fix it.
Ugh, at least our pest problem is nothing worse than some sleepy bugs sleeping under the shelving units. I HATES mice or rats, both of which I had issues with when we lived up there and the rats took advantage of the ancient plumbing. 
It’s more like a family feud. They’re probably just playing nice to save some cash by making a deal to close one store each.
For everyone’s information Kondolas and City Furniture stores are not the same owners, City Furniture in Terrace has new
owners that are doing a great job and have great products and service, City Furniture in Terrace was sold in 2007.
Perhaps someone know for sure, but it is my understanding both stores are owned by two branches of the same family. For sure different owners, but related.
I would still like to see a good butchers move into town
A shame Kondolas moved out of Rupert. I purchased furniture there was cheap budget furniture which when commenting on the actual product was neither “cheap” nor “budget.” Great furniture from there. When I buy my furniture next, I’ll be going to Terrace to shop at Kondolas rather buy furniture here for $50 cheaper, that’s glorified kindling. Outright can’t afford MacKenzies, but their furniture is the type of furniture your grandparent’s had - good for 30 years.
A little bird may have told me something about that idea in the near future. Setting up near some trendy area in Rupert ??..