Kabul Tailoring finds new home

One business owner in Grandin Park Plaza can breath easier now that he and his wife have found a new space to lease in the city.

After weeks of searching, Nasir and Malaka Qaderi, the owners of Kabul Tailoring, signed a new lease on Thursday with the Northern Alberta Business Incubator in Campbell Business Park.

Their business will move there in early May.

“Today, finally, today we have a space,” said Qaderi on Thursday. “We were worried if we couldn’t find any place that we would close down.”

The question of what will happen with businesses displaced by the redevelopment of Grandin mall has concerned local residents for weeks.

Many shop owners decided to simply close down or retire. But the tailors, who have owned their business since 2001, were among those struggling to find a new home.

In an earlier interview with the Gazette, Qaderi said finding space was not the problem but the price they would have had to pay for it. At the mall, the tailors have been paying $12 per square foot but other spaces in the city were going for between $20 and $30, he said.

He eventually found a new space after making an appointment with Mayor Nolan Crouse, who got him in touch with NABI’s director Dar Schwanbeck, he said.

While their new business will be smaller and costlier than their original shop, it’s still less expensive than other leases in town, Qaderi said.

“There’s no spot that’s cheaper,” he said.

Qaderi added that he is very thankful to everyone involved in helping him find a new home for his business, especially his customers who supported the family in their search.

Many of them called into his business or stopped by if they saw space for lease in the city, he said.

“All of them worked very hard to find a new place,” he said. “I love them so much, my customers, St. Albert people. They are lovely people and I thank all of them.”