Hi all,

My name is Yvonne and I am the niece of Doug and Gina, upstanding members of the community and local business owners who have been operating the Pioneer Gas Station/Snowball Corners General Store in King City for the last 27 years. This family business is their livelihood, which supports their household of 5. It was my first job as a teenager, teaching me the value of hard work, a part time job for my grandfather who took extreme pride in ownership and maintained the property up until he passed and currently employs many other loyal people who worked here for over a decade and also have their own families to support. My uncle Doug and aunt Gina have been wonderful business owners operating this community outpost with kindness, integrity and dedication.

Due to new Provincial regulations, they have been required by the TSSA to upgrade their underground gas tanks. However, as they do not own the property the Franchise has tried to negotiate with the land owner next door at the donut shop to give permission for the company to perform this necessary work and they have been denied. This has put Doug and Gina in an extremely difficult situation where they have been caught in between a landlord and Franchise dispute and it all came to a head last Wednesday (Jan 28th) when the company abruptly notified them with devastating news that they will be forced to shut down their business by the end of the week (within 4 days) once their gas tanks run out of fuel...which will likely be today (Feb 2nd) on what would have been my grandfather's 94th birthday. He was one of the main reasons why Doug and Gina put their careers on hold (as a Computer Engineer and Makeup Artist) and took over this family business, which was started by him to help realize a humble immigrant dream. They have been denied permission to continue operating solely as a convenience store without gas and this absurd timeframe has not given them the ability to facilitate an adequate business closure to properly liquidiate all of their inventory. There has not been any clear communication regarding the future of their business and they are being forced out of their will to shut down, being left with no options or accountiblity on the Franchisor's end with this unjust termination.

I am raising an emergency fund on their behalf to help pay for outstanding business costs owing to their employees/vendors, to procure a Litigation Lawyer specializing in Franchise Law who can help them properly navigate their next steps regarding this business dispute and to supplement for their loss of income to help make ends meet during this tumultuous time. There has already been a huge outpour of community support in person at the store and on social media, which I have been extremely grateful to see and it has encouraged me to set up this campaign as many people have been curious on how they can help. I am hoping to provide full transparancy on this situation so we can come together to help Doug and Gina in their time of need as they are still in shock, yet putting on a brave face and actively trying to find a resolution to be able to continue operating the family business that they love!!!

UPDATE: Doug & Gina have secured legal councel. Head office still has not provided transparency regarding a clear exit plan and they keep extending their store closure date (currently Feb 9th). This gives everyone a few more days of work, but with no gas or lotto and after telling the community the initial closure date of Feb 2, the business has been very slow. At this point, their employee labour is being used as security until head office is ready to take over. There has been lots of interest in the media regarding their story and Doug & Gina are so grateful for all the exposure and support from everyone. They will create a Facebook account eventually to respond to all the positivity and provide an update down the line on where they end up. Despite this being such unfortunate circumstances, they have decided to handle this with grace. Thank you all!!!!!

News article: https://www.auroratoday.ca/local-news/i-didnt-know-people-loved-us-so-much-snowball-corners-gas-station-closes-suddenly-after-decades-11831006