A well-respected, family-owned St. Albert business was forced to leave the city last fall.
Unable to find adequate space for their medium-sized enterprise, GLC Moving, which stands for Gentle, Loving Care, made the difficult decision to relocate south of the Anthony Henday last November.
“Our hearts are out there and it was a big transition for us to move into Edmonton,” said GLC president Linda Rebalkin. “At the same time, St. Albert is growing and a moving company in the community I think is really important.”
GLC has been a staple in the community for the past 15 years. What started off as a two-man (well one man and one woman to be exact) home-based packing operation, has transformed into a full-fledged local and long distance moving service.
The company has won many Readers’ Choice awards. It also took home the St. Albert and District Chamber of Commerce Small Business Award of Distinction in 2005.
GLC had outgrown its location next to the St Albert Bottle Refund Centre in the Riel Business Park and was unable to find a big enough warehouse (between 12,000 to 15,000 square-feet), with a loading dock and enough yard space, to accommodate their operations when their lease was up in November.
“There’s lots of industrial/commercial if you’re a small business and need a 2,000-square-foot bay and a small office at the front,” said Kuz Rebalkin, co-owner of GLC. “If you’re a bigger company there isn’t a lot to rent or to lease.”
This is far from a new phenomenon. Other companies have been forced to leave St. Albert due to space constraints in the past.
In 2007, downtown anchor tenant Bridal House ditched its St. Thomas digs in favour of a northwest Edmonton postal code. Longtime St. Albert business, City Custom Doors recently upsized in Edmonton as well.
“This is something that most businesses have been saying for years,” said Mike Howes, on behalf of the Riel Park Business Association. “We certainly need some more commercial space; we’re chomping at the bit for South Riel and the Employment Lands to open up.”
Howes, who owns Sparklean Restorations, actually took over GLC’s space in Riel Park once it became available.
“Spaces like that are few and far between in St. Albert,” said Howes, who has been waiting years to consolidate his business into a single location.
Prior to the fall, Howes was renting multiple smaller units on McKenney Avenue and Renault Crescent. Losing GLC is a “symptom of just not having enough space,” he said.
Guy Boston, the city’s executive director of economic development, hopes that new industrial lands coming online in the near future, such as South Riel, will help curb the trend. He emphasized the importance of communication between businesses and developers.
“It’s almost like chicken and egg, or the cart before the horse,” said Boston.
Howes, who has been in conversations with GWL about his personal warehousing needs, also encourages business owners to contact developers about the demand for larger spaces within the community.
“There’s really no place for us to grow up into,” he said.
