Generosity brings coffee shop owner to tears
It was the kind of tough times pickme-up that’s more uplifting than even the strongest caffeine.
When pandemic social distancing sent home office workers in the 37-storey Calgary City Centre building at 215 - 2nd St. S.W., the fortunes of Cecile Lau’s Deville Coffee shop crashed, with sales dropping by 85 per cent.
“We decided to close the door for the safety of staff and operations-wise,” said Lau, who has operated the cafe since July 2018. “It’s just a ghost town here.” It forced her to lay off eight staff, hopefully only temporarily.
But that didn’t go unnoticed by some of Lau’s regular customers.
Even in a time of plummeting fortunes in the oil and gas sector, Serafina Energy committed to buying up $10,000 worth of gift cards from the locally based coffee company, to be spent when better times return.
“We empathize and understand how the current scenario would be very impactful to your business and your family of staff. … We’d like to bridge the gap when you can return to operating again,” said Serafina president Chad Harris in an email sent to Lau this week.
“When we can work together and support each other, we can make these challenging times much less of a strain for all of us.”
It was a gesture of possible financial salvation and a vote of confidence that left Lau in tears.
“They think about us and care about us, even though they have their own problems,” she said. “It’s really heartwarming someone who’s not related to you would do this.”
She said the shop had been weathering the downturn hitting the city’s economy over the past few years, but the novel coronavirus poses an existential challenge.
Like other small businesses, Lau’s hoping for a rent break from her landlord but has yet to hear back. The gesture from a group of regular customers is both a confidence and fiscal boost, she said.
“I have been stressed and worried about not being able to pay for expenses, so I wanted to share this story to pass on the good vibes and positivity to the rest of the city.”
Even so, Lau said it’s unclear when she’ll be able to reopen or move ahead with an expansion into a second downtown location.