Two downtown Orillia businesses have found a way to work together to keep expenses down in the face of rising rent costs.
Brendan Fitzpatrick, who owns Fanboy with his wife, Carmen, began speaking with other business owners when he learned his new landlord was planning to double the rent for his Mississaga Street space.
When the lease was up at the end of October, his rent was going to go from $2,000, all inclusive, to $4,000, plus utilities.
It wasn’t how Fitzpatrick wanted to celebrate Fanboy’s fifth anniversary on Oct. 29.
He eventually came to an agreement with Al Wallace, owner of Downtown Computers, whose landlord, Mariano Tulipano, agreed to let Wallace sublet his space.
“Al went above and beyond,” Fitzpatrick said. “It was a benefit to both. Going forward, we’re going to have a local landlord. That, to me, is huge. He has an investment in our community.”
It was good timing for Wallace, too.
“I had flirted with the idea earlier on in the pandemic of renting out some of our space,” he said.
Business at Downtown Computers has changed over the years. It used to be mostly retail, but now the majority of Wallace’s business is IT support for small- to medium-sized companies.
“We just don’t need the retail space,” he said.
So, this weekend, Fanboy moved in with Downtown Computers at 53 Mississaga St. E.
“It is good to see two downtown businesses help each other,” Wallace said. “There’s an opportunity for me to rent out some of my space and there’s an opportunity for him to save money, and we’re not really stepping on each other’s toes as far as our businesses go. I think it’s going to be a good fit.”
Fitzpatrick agreed.
“We strongly believe that the downtown community needs to collaborate, to co-operate. You can’t compete,” he said.
