By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
After 14 months of slogging it out first as a more general grocer and then a specialty grocer before pivoting to gluten-free, keto and vegan consumers, Little Falls Foods is calling it a day.
Faced with a paucity of support from the Okanagan Falls community, wildfires and less than friendly competition, the small grocer that aimed to fill the gap in the community left by the last big-brand grocer said it is closing this fall.
“We have appreciated the opportunity to serve the people of Okanagan Falls and the South Okanagan. Unfortunately, we have not been able to garner enough support to be sustainable here,” Dahlia Millington, owner of Little Falls Foods said in an emailed statement.
“As you may know, we moved to OK Falls only to bring food to the people here. Now that a larger store has moved in, we are no longer needed.”
To say it’s been a struggle is an understatement. Although warned against setting up shop in Okanagan Falls because they would not easily get local support, Dahlia Millington and her husband Derek went ahead anyway.
After seven months of plugging away, Little Falls Foods introduced an extension to their previous delivery service to Oliver, making a loop to Osoyoos, Cawston, Keremeos, Olalla, Twin Lakes, and back to home base in Okanagan Falls.
A focus on local food products – over 30 per cent of their stock – and then another pivot to a focus on catering to gluten-free, keto and vegan products were not enough.
Dahlia Millington and her son Malachite are already moving forward with a new venture, the 100 per cent gluten free Unglued Foods. Contributed photo
Millington told the Times Chronicle that the first body blow came with the fires last summer which devastated tourist numbers. “Basically we were on an upward trajectory until the fires came along. And then it’s been in a slow downward since that time,” she says.
But the biggest and certainly cruellest blow revolved around the opening of a Jim Pattison Group, AG Foods outlet in what had previously been an IGA.
“We knew the AG was opening and had we made this change earlier [the gluten-free, keto and vegan specialties] then we would’ve been in a better position than we are now,” she says.
That eventual shift to specialty was good in terms of building a more stable client base with customers in particular coming from Oliver and Osoyoos to get gluten-free and keto foods. “But we just didn’t build enough momentum,” she concedes.
She says the opening of AG Foods in Okanagan Falls nearly two months ago has cut their sales by two-thirds.
On the surface, this seems surprising given Little Falls Foods’ specialty focus. But Millington says the new store operator checked out their offering and has been expanding into the specialty area.
Copied and under pricing pressure, there was little hope of survival she says. “It’s a different approach to business than I take,” she added.
“One of our mistakes was taking AG on as a supplier,” she says before adding that she explained to her supplier what the grocery situation was in Okanagan Falls and the next thing she knew plans were unfolding for a new AG Foods outlet in town.
“Silly for me but I’m very trusting,” she added.
She says the store concept as its most recently been focused, is a viable model if there’s enough local support.
“Had I known the community more I might not have come here originally but at the same time it was a business move. You would think putting a grocery store in a place that has no food, it’s a success story you would expect. People needed food and I was very driven to respond to that situation.”
“I was warned but I didn’t truly understand it like I do now. But I still felt it doesn’t matter even if you have not the most supportive people they still need food and access to food. So that was my drive – it was very much to bring food to the people. And being a bit more foolhardy I suppose in that I persisted against obvious evidence,” she says.
She says there is a “bit of an ethic of doing what’s best for the individual here versus recognizing what’s best for the group. Everybody does what works best for them. So we probably would’ve fared better in Oliver or Osoyoos because that’s definitely where our support is,” as well as Kaledan she adds.
With finances stretched Little Falls Foods is simply selling everything off, practically lock stock and barrel. Equipment and various office items are now piled out front with Millington laughing that it looks like a garage sale now.
“Please shop with us and please buy what we have for sale and as soon as we can pay the farmers will bring in more produce with the plan to essentially turn ourselves into a fruit stand until the end,” she says.
The whole process has taken a toll on Millington, with weariness evident in her voice. “I’ve gone through the three stages of grief through this,” she says, but I’m okay she adds. The cost has been significant, not simply financially, but emotionally too. “It’s money, it’s time and it’s a marriage,” she says of the demise of her marriage in part due to the grocery struggle. “So it’s a sad story all around,” she adds wistfully.
But this isn’t the end of the story and in fact is the beginning of something new. If Millington and her son Malachite, who has been onboard from the beginning looking after the company’s IT needs, can manage to build enough capital they have their sights set on a new venture in the lower mainland.
“What we’ve already begun is a 100 per cent gluten-free store, a place people can go and shop without having to hunt for foods that they can eat. We’ve already done the work of screening so we are keeping it simpler for people.”
She notes Unglued Food will be the first such store in Canada and B.C. has one of the larger gluten-free populations, with most of the demand in Vancouver and area. For now Millington and her son are operating it from the Okanagan, but once they close up for good this fall (latest by Oct. 1), the pair will set out to find some warehouse space somewhere in the lower mainland.
As for the name of the new venture, Millington says its fitting because firstly its a play on gluten free and secondly she says this whole process has left her “a little unglued”. At least her sense of humour is still intact.
