Urban Street Donair is located just steps away from Calgary’s James Fowler High School.
Lunchtime is normally the busiest time of day for owner Sammy Aboumrad He estimates he gets up to 50 customers between noon and 12:20 p.m., and many of them area students.
But during the Friday lunch hour this week he only had about eight customers.
“We rely a lot on the students for our business. I’ve been waiting by the minute for the summer to end so we can get back into full swing,” Aboumrad said.
However, just a month into the school year and the students are gone again because of the teachers strike. “It’s been a ghost town in here in the daytime without the students,” Aboumrad said.
To make the situation worse, some of his other regular customers have disappeared too, forced to stay home to look after their kids while they’re out of school.
“It’s been really frustrating, to be honest with you. I don’t blame the teachers,” Aboumrad said. “I completely understand where they’re coming from. Thirteen years without a raise is a lot, especially with our economy the way it is. I don’t blame them, especially dealing with students all day long, right? That’s not easy. But it has been terrible for business.”
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He’s tried doing more business with food delivery companies, but because of the commissions they charge he said “there’s really no room for too much profit there.”
If the teachers and the government don’t come to an agreement soon, Aboumrad fears he may need to layoff some employees.
At Calgary’s Hangar Flight Museum, its a similar story.
“We usually have two schools in the morning and two schools in the afternoon. Since the teacher’s strike, it’s been a very quiet atmosphere around the museum,” said executive director Brian Desjardins.
“Hosting students and learning about the theory of flight, science of flight is very much a revenue generator here at the Hanger Flight Museum… We hosted close to 13,000 students last year.”
The museum has tried to make up some of the shortfall by hosting day camps for students and their families during the strike, but Desjardins is hoping for a return to class soon.
“We’ve gone through difficult times in the past,” Desjardin said, noting the COVID-19 panademic as an example. “We survived that. We’re just hoping that things will get resolved as quick as possible.”
In the meantime, small business owners affected by the strike are making a plea for the public to keep them in mind.
“I mean, support local guys, especially around high schools and junior high schools because those students come out and spend a lot of money. And with the economy the way that it is, everything is so pricey, there’s already not a lot a profit,” Aboumrad said.
“So support us guys. Support everybody that needs help, all the smaller businesses that you can. Keep it local and help us out, we’d appreciate that.”
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