SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Another high-profile business owner is blaming his decline in sales and slumping customer traffic on the economic downturn that began in September 2008.

Tony Watier, owner of Birchwood Gallery, has reopened his YK Centre art gallery and is currently restructuring his business plan to focus more on custom framing and smaller pieces from a reduced stable of artists. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

Tony Watier, owner of Birchwood Gallery, located on the upper level of the YK Centre, filed for bankruptcy protection on Jan. 13 and has until late February to issue a proposal satisfying his creditors.

The gallery, which opened in 1998 and was acquired by Watier in 2004, temporarily closed earlier this month as Watier set about staving off further losses.

Having reopened the store last week, Watier is now planning to devote a third of the store's space to a custom framing area, currently located in an unseen portion of the mall that is closed to the public.

"Art is my passion but ... the way the economy is right now, we have to focus on what our bread and butter is, and our bread and butter is custom framing," said Watier, who also owns ticket seller yktix.com.

In addition, the gallery will focus more on smaller, more affordable pieces, said Watier.

"In these economic times, with the product that we sell, it's basically a luxury item. So what we're looking at doing is just lessening the number of artists that we carry and keep smaller pieces. The bigger pieces typically in the last two years haven't sold, so we're just looking at paring down, having a better selection of smaller pieces that we hope people would be more inclined to buy."

Watier estimated the number of artists represented will shrink to between 15 or 20, compared to 45.

Last fall, Pierre LePage, owner of Chef Pierre's Catering, Le Frolic and Le Stock Pot, entered bankruptcy protection. He also cited a decline in business at all of his operations due partly to low tourist traffic caused by the economic slowdown.

Watier began to notice a decline in customer traffic, particularly tourists, in July 2008.

"We didn't see the tourism. A large portion of our business throughout the summer is the tourist market and that, in the last couple of years, has just disintegrated."

Watier said he was encouraged by the reported high turnout at Canada's Northern House at last winter's Vancouver Olympics.

"You rationalize that it does make sense and you go forward. So you think that you're going to have a big summer and, in fact, last summer, the traffic in here for tourists was lower than the previous summers. For us, it didn't translate."

Statistics from the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre show the number of Americans who made a trip to the visitors centre between

May and August of 2010 declined by nine per cent compared to the same period in 2009. At the same time, the visitors centre recorded increases in the number of Yellowknifers (three per cent over last year), Europeans (19 per cent) and residents from the rest of the NWT and Nunavut (91 per cent).

Lisa Seagrave, manager of The Gallery of the Midnight Sun, said that business in her store's arts and sculpture departments has remained steady since the tourism market witnessed a general drop following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

"We pretty much have maintained the department's spread in terms of sales that is typical for us. I haven't seen a decline in any particular department," she said.

Birchwood, on the other hand, did not do as well during Christmas season - and it wasn't the only place, said Watier.

"I know I'm not alone because I've been talking to a lot of business people and they're saying that sales haven't been what they were, year-over-year, December-over-December.

"Whether it's people locally holding onto their money or Internet shopping or with the cheap flights, there's all kinds of things that you can rationalize and use as scapegoats.

"I should have reacted sooner and I didn't."

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