There's only one thing missing from this boutique store just off Spring Garden Road in downtown Halifax, with its shelves full of decadent fabrics, shiny baubles, and elegant housewares — the customers.
From her perch on the second floor of the brick building at 1468 Dresden Row, In a Box Gifts owner Lezlie Oler sighs as she looks out the window at the construction underway across the street.
"It's extremely disruptive," she told the CBC's Information Morning. "The dust and noise and continued chaos from the construction has been a real deterrent to shoppers."
Oler estimated there has been ongoing construction in the area for almost six of the 10 years she's been in business at that location.
That has translated into "a clear reduction in sales" each year over the last four years, Oler said. She wants the city to consider reducing the assessed values of properties like hers, so that the taxes are more affordable.
Nick Ritcey, the senior communications adviser with the municipality, said staff are already investigating alternative taxation models for independent businesses, and plan to present their findings to councillors later this year.
On March 7, city staff presented a few options to councillors, such as lower taxes for businesses on main streets or separate tax rates for central business districts.
Those options are still under review, but city staff plan to present concrete suggestions to councillors later this year, Ritcey said.
Oler said businesses like hers need a break — and they need it now.
"It's very, very difficult" to maintain a customer base if people come downtown and say, "I can't park and it's dirty and it's unpleasant and it's noisy," she said.
"They certainly will go elsewhere, even if you're offering the best product in town."
Oler said hers isn't the only business in the area that has suffered, pointing to recent store closures in the area.
Efforts to build condos and bring more residents into the downtown have meant sacrificing some of the commercial trade on what was once considered an "outstanding shopping street," she said.
Oler also suggested the city help the Spring Garden Area Business Association pay for an advertising campaign to promote the fact that the shopping area, which was once considered "parallel to none other east of Montreal," is open for business.
Ritcey responded by saying the city already provides financial assistance to the business associations, and it's up to those groups to determine how that money gets spent.
More of an effort could be made to make the area look better, Oler said, pointing to the blue house at 5517 Spring Garden Rd. as an example of "a dilapidated building plonk in the middle of high-fashion boutiques."
Ritcey said the owner of that building has promised to make changes to the exterior this year, following a complaint from the public and an investigation by a compliance officer.
He also said councillors have approved a streetscape design project for Spring Garden Road, although he noted construction would start "no earlier than 2020."