Our little bakery is family owned and family run. And my family is small. It's just Ann and I. The "and I" is even a bit of a stretch since, like many small businesses today, someone in the family needs to maintain a full-time job elsewhere that provides the money, insurance, and stability needed to offset the craziness that is running your own business these days. Ann works from 10am-8pm every day, and the bakery is not doing well financially. You can imagine the stresses coming at us from all directions.
We closed the business on Tuesday with plans to reopen on Sunday. These five days we would be closed would be an opportunity for us to get away and focus on things that have been hard to focus on in quite a long time. We needed a break. We dont have a staff, so we decided to close the bakery for a few days so we could work through things, relax a bit, and not think about the bakery for the first time since 2007.
The fatal mistake I made was checking e-mail while we waited for our return transportation to the airport. It could have been worse--I could have checked *during* our time off. But I checked. I received an e-mail from the property manager of the strip mall where our bakery lives.
Dean writes:
I noticed you were closed today with a sign stating you were on vacation. Per the lease, you are required to maintain the business open year round, with the exception of certain holidays throughout the year. If an emergency arises, management would need to approve the shutting of your doors.
In addition, the landlord restricts this type of sign.."closed due to a vacation" displayed in the window. It is not the message we want to send to other tenants or patrons to the center and obviously effects your sales figures. I hope you understand. Let me know if you have any questions.
In this economy, in these times, in this complex with spaces still empty for almost a year now... it would seem that the landlord would do whatever it takes to keep the tenants they have. Part of that includes, perhaps, a slighty relaxed enforcement of the 48 page terms and conditions of a lease. Customers have been asking why we dont have signs by the street pointing to the bakery. We tell them the truth -- the landlord won't allow it. And now this gem of an e-mail will appear in the bakery, so we can show to our loyal customers why, after a much needed break to focus on some specific things, we still can't catch a break.
News at 11. You can't close unless the landlord gives you permission. Even when you can't afford to hire a staff to stay open. Thanks.
