Our Vision Behind Burrell's

I’d like to start by thanking those who are taking the time to read about our situation and to all the community members that currently support Burrell Grocery! Our names are Chris and Lehna Kanski. I grew up in Nelson, my husband in Winnipeg MB. I had never really left the Kootenay’s, so I decided to move with him and ended up spending 15 years in MB…. which was about 15 years too many. We decided it was time to move back, and my career in Mental Health and Healthcare, made it an easy transfer over for me. Chris is a carpenter by trade and built houses from the ground up, until 8 years ago when he had a mild stroke causing permanent loss of partial eyesight. Chris was born with Heart Disease and was then diagnosed in 2012 with Polycystic Kidney and Liver Disease. Chris underwent a double open-heart surgery to replace his Aortic Valve which had completely collapsed causing the stroke and unfortunately, complications followed, more surgeries were necessary and Chris’s health issues are still far from over. Post surgery, his energy levels and exposure to the sun were negatively affected. He needed the perfect career change, indoor work and not too physically demanding. So, when we stumbled upon Burrell Grocery for sale with a three-bedroom house attached, a milestone of Nelson and my childhood corner store, we dove right in! It was a perfect fit for our family to work together and when our offer to purchase was accepted by the lovely Burrell family, we were in tears. Back in the 80’s when I was growing up, Burrell’s was called Reo’s Corner Store. This unique little corner grocery store has been a common stomping ground for community members since before my time. It’s tucked away in the Uphill residential area, close to several schools and away from the bustle of downtown. Our family officially took over Burrell Grocery December.15, 2016 here in Nelson BC. We obtained the history records from the city shortly after and discovered that the land was purchased in 1897 and the first Corner Store Grocery opened here in 1903. It has continued this tradition since then, making it a viable business in the community for 116 years which is quite incredible. We have a few pictures on the wall showing one of Nelson’s original Streetcars, which operated from 1899 to 1949, driving past the store here on Stanley. It’s an amazing piece of history. Now, it’s like clockwork with an old building and anyone who’s done renovations on one, knows exactly what comes next. It must be done right, and you never know what your going to find as you go. A common challenge with an old building is the structure and foundation. Our vision for Burrell’s, is a late 1800’s feel with rustic characteristics, wooden shelves, logs, beams, antiques on the walls and that authentic corner store feel. We hope to expand enough to include a small Uphill Café with a patio and garden seating. We have been putting these ideas into place and steadily upgrading the building, equipment and store since the beginning of 2017. On top of pressing upgrades, a ripple effect of unfortunate events started to occur, and it began with our security system, cameras and till crashing. Of course, we replaced these items and decided to invest in a second till to help with line ups. Our first spring arrived, and our basement was hit with mice. A surprisingly large amount of product was destroyed, and we threw out anything that seemed even remotely touched just to be safe. Being an unfinished and unsealed basement, we spent two weeks downstairs gutting, fixing, sanitizing and ensuring preventive measures were put into place. The furnace and ducting are from 1979 and in need of replacing as it provides for both the store and residential space. The output of Carbon Monoxide from the furnace and hot water tank were being vented through an old chimney from the original build, as wood stoves were the source of heat in the 1900’s. When the hot water tank quit, we hired a company to replace and install the tank to code. We discovered that our chimney had collapsed sometime ago and had not been venting the Carbon Monoxide outside. We almost always have the basement door open during store hours to keep steady airflow, which was fortunate as we unknowingly were being exposed. We immediately tore the chimney out and patched the void. Shortly thereafter, two of our deep freezers, a standing freezer and our coffee pot stopped working. Loss of product again and replacement of equipment was necessary. All in all, we are trying to persever through this difficult time, but are truly struggling to keep up financially with these fast-paced issues and sustain business. Without these repairs and replacements, we would not have been able to operate and to our dismay, there are still several pressing issues at hand. We are reaching out for financial aid to help us keep this gemstone alive and to alleviate the high debt accumulation we’ve incurred to upgrade and keep our doors open. We are one of the last Mom and Pop Shop corner stores left in the Nelson and have invested all our savings into fixing up our beautiful little place. Mom and Pop shops are becoming a thing of the past due to the monopolization of big box stores and we strongly feel the importance in keeping stores like our alive. Burrell's has 116 years of memories attached and we would love to see these memories continue. Thank you very much for your time and consideration. A heart felt thank you to any support we may receive and to those who pass this along.