Whitehorse welcomes specialty shops while other businesses languish

While Yukonerssaybonjourto a new speciality shop in downtown Whitehorse,they saygood-bye to a yearling restaurant in another mall.

Gourmet Fine Delicatessen opened in Horwood's Mallthis week,selling imported French delicacies.During its first hours of operation,business was steady. The hottest seller, at $2.50 a pop? Macarons.

But owner Sylvain Belmondo, who has a background in culinary arts and business, is also selling items likefoie gras, French sausageandpat.

Belmondo's shop is the latest specialty shop to open in Horwood's Mall, but there are more. Nearby is Cultured Cheese, a gourmet cheese counter where Larra Daley serves customers non-stop.

"I think we have a lot of people who have migrated here from the city, so I think there is that demand," she says.

At the Yarn shop, located between the cheese counter and the delicatessen, Sophie Jessome agrees. And she likes having gourmet foods nearby.

"Oh my God, they have tons of French cookies and honestly the prices are so good compared to the big supermarkets. You're going to pay the same price, but now it's immense quality. It's really yummy."

Jessome says when she first opened her business in Horwoods Mall, it was empty "like a desert," but says nowlocal shops are renewing the area.

She says people seem to be supporting local business.

"I think it's all about the quality and not the quantity, and I think that's something that's taking shape up here. I do feel people are ready to pay a better price for a better product."

Meanwhile, across town

Despite the surge in speciality shops in Horwoods Mall, not all is well for small businesses in Whitehorse.

At NVD Place where the Old Canadian Tire used to be, the vision of a retail mall hasn't gone as planned. The mall opened just over one year ago andnow its solerestaurant,Robbyn's StreetGrill, hasclosed.

"The initial plan for that space was to have more retail business in there and for a number of reasons, primarily a downturn in the Canadian economy, we had to look at other options," says Denny Kobayashi, senior vice-president with Northern Vision Development, the building-owner.

Kobayashi says there are more offices in the building than originally intended.

ToykoLiving, a store offering Asian products and snacks, is the latest business to go into NVD Place. Like many of the businesses in that building, it has street access, whereas Robbyn's StreetGrill was only accessible from inside the mall.